Thank you everyone for all the support - I appreciate every single post, including the detailed ones. TBH I'm not knowledgeable about how divorces go here in Canada. I got the impression this morning that he doesn't want to involve several lawyers and go to court. He said doing it this way would save money so I'm hoping he means mediation as Shezbut - I'm all for that. I highly doubt he would ever want to drag this out in court because he doesn't want to waste the money and he also has more to lose. Some of you might not know, but the main reason we're splitting is because he went and married another woman (in a religious sense) supposedly in Michigan. This would be very damaging for his reputation not to mention his being emotionally/mentally abusive revealed.

I don't have any intention of taking more than I need to keep me and the kids reasonably comfortable. I'm even willing to move to a smaller house if I have to. I also will agree to him seeing the girls whenever he wants to.

Ledz - thanks for your response but I'm wondering why I should file first?...maybe you know something I don't. For now I'm going to see if he actually is having papers drawn up and whats in those papers. As far as I know I don't think I could be railroaded and if I sense that I'll ask my lawyer friend to give me a referral. If he does this the hard way, then people would find out what kind of person he really is and that's not to his advantage. I hesitated all these years to file 1st because he has threatened to make my life miserable by saying quote "your ***** is grass". I wanted to get him to cooperate and agree this is the right thing to do. All I want to live in basic human comfort, raise my girls and he can see them as he wishes. BTW the girls are very supportive and accepting of this because I've always reassured them, they still have the support of 2 parents and never have to take sides.