Toulouse feels a bit like Brussels as you walk down narrow streets lined with shops to suddenly pop out into a large square. I’m not really in the mood to experience the country this time, though, as I’ve come to get divorced. The process began in about October with a couple of forms to sign, basically saying that it was an amicable separation with no property or children to cause complications. Then we had to wait for the court date to be settled. Marie paid the solicitor her half of the fee and said that I’d pay the remainder when I came to France. The date was today, only shared just after christmas and then began the mad scramble to get flights to Toulouse for the occasion.
We found the court building in a back street in the south of the city and joined the 10+ other couples waiting for their turn in the same session. Although we should have been about 7th in line, we were pushed to about 4th because we were paying for an interpreter as well. This is a new requirement to stop silly foreigners like me claiming that they had no idea what they were saying yes to when they wed or divorce. I still don’t know exactly I vowed, because the law wasn’t in place 4 years ago, but at least I know that it no longer matters.
The solicitor, Marie, the interpreter and I were ushered into the magistrates office and asked if we were still wanting an amicable split. Marie and I both nodded and that was pretty much it. Until we got outside and we found out that the magistrate would prepare the final papers to be sent to the solicitor for us to sign. That will hopefully be done tonight so that she can email them to Marie and she can bring them for me to sign tomorrow morning.
And then there’s the payment. Solicitors (and doctors), it appears, don’t accept cards in France. I’d been counting on being able to pay by credit card and now I was stuck. The solicitor is adamant that the money be paid by tomorrow for some reason, perhaps worried that I’ll flee the country and escape paying. The ATM let me withdraw 500 Euro, significantly greater than the daily allowance in Australia, and I should be able to withdraw the same amount tomorrow, but the question is whether the bank will consider that in the same 24 hour period since it was already tomorrow in Australia when I withdrew the last lot.