Personal Stress Relief from Economic, Environmental Issues

As I had previously written in my post “Our Return to South Florida,” we had returned home and I had received a letter from an attorney that was offering his help in retrieve money that had been turned over to the state of Florida. I had done my own research at The National Associations of State Treasurers and found that stock that had been in mine and my ex’s name were turned over. This, by the way, I take full responsibility for.
For the first year after my divorce I was able to cash the dividend checks. I’m not sure what changed, but after a year Washington Mutual wanted my ex to endorse the check as well. Mind you the checks were a whopping $23 a quarter. What it actually came down to was that my ex and I were not on good terms and I had no way to acquire his signature that would not entail having to see him. I ultimately filed each and every check uncashed for nine years.
Now nine years later the stocks were in the state’s possession. Being that the stock was actually a wedding present from my parents, I wrote my ex explaining the situation and requesting that he sign them over to me because they were in both our names. He agreed. Nine years is a long time and taking the necessary steps to claim the stocks by having my ex sign the appropriate forms was not in itself a big deal. We did also need a gold medallion seal, which I had to meet him at the bank for, but it actually was uneventful. I submitted all the paperwork in August 2009 and knew it would be a long wait before I received a check. I did not, however realize how long.
Five months later in January, I received a check. If you’ve read any of my posts, you know that nothing in my life goes on without a hitch…the check was for half the amount. I really wasn’t sure what to think. I went back over the numbers and checked the amount. I thought for some stupid reason that maybe the other half would come separately. I was right. However, the other half was issued and sent to my ex despite the fact that we filled out all the paperwork to the contrary. Actually, he was amiable about it, probably because he has more money than he knows what to do with. He signed the check over to me. I’m not talking mega bucks, the check was for $2400 and I intended to cash it, although I anticipated some resistance at the bank.
I have not previously mentioned this, but my ex and my current husband are both named Mike. As you can imagine, it’s been a little bit of a pain in the ass in certain situations when both or either of them come up in conversations. I didn’t ever imagine that both of them having the same name could ever be beneficial. When I went to the bank to cash the check the teller quickly looked at it, saw the name Mike, claimed he was on my account and cashed the check; no questions asked. For the first time ever the name similarity paid off and it made my day! I guess Murphy was on someone else’s shoulder that day!!