Greetings to everyone here,

My name is Stefan and I am trying to help a friend of mine (Melli). She emigrated to Greece a few years ago after getting married with her family and two children. It soon turned out that her husband was not willing to take care of the family and accordingly slipped down the social ladder and started drinking. Nevertheless, she took care of her family and took on any kind of work to keep the family afloat despite the difficulties. She even travelled to Germany at times to do everything she could to earn money, even jobs that hardly any woman would do voluntarily.

Three years ago, Melli finally decided to file for divorce because her husband didn't care about anything but was demanding more and more and all the burden was on Melli. The man then returned to Germany and the divorce was successfully enforced, although the man tried everything to torpedo the process, including claiming that he was not the father of the last child. Melli had to have an expert report drawn up to prove that the last child was a joint child, otherwise her entitlement to maintenance payments would have lapsed.

Melli was now alone with her two children and struggled to provide them with everything they needed, although from my point of view these were only rudimentary needs that could be met. It was now a matter of obtaining maintenance payments from her ex-husband. Here, too, he torpedoed this process in every possible way, so that this procedure could only be carried out with the help of a lawyer in Germany. Of course, Melli had the problem that, as a German living abroad, she did not receive any legal aid and had to pay everything from the little money she had at her disposal. When, after a year and a half, this was also decided in Melli's favour, the maintenance payment was advanced by the authorities, as the ex-husband was unable to pay. The money was transferred to the lawyer and from then on the lawyer was no longer available. The message from him was that he was going on holiday for almost two months. But even after that he could not be contacted by phone or email. Melli won all the lawsuits but didn't receive a cent.

The expenses for the lawsuits were beyond her means, so she borrowed money from her small circle of acquaintances, as she simply couldn't afford the German amounts on her Greek salary. On recommendation, she had to instruct another lawyer, who took action against her first lawyer in order to obtain the maintenance payments made by her child. Of course, this also cost money each time, such as court costs, lawyer, trustee, bank charges. All to be paid in advance, of course. Everyone supported her, as she had won all the cases and was in the right.

Shortly before Christmas, the time had come. The new lawyer announced that the money was in a new trust account and could finally be transferred. There would be one last appointment, which would of course have to be paid in advance. Believing that she would finally receive the money in a few days, she threw everything she had into the ring, including additional loans from her friends. Disillusionment came quickly. She checked her account every day but nothing happened. Christmas turned into a disaster. Penniless, she had pasta with ketchup and there was no thought of presents. The new lawyer announced that he was going on his winter holiday, the clerk at the bank couldn't be reached by phone and there was only an answering machine. I tried to reassure her, as it is well known that staff are often only rudimentarily available or not available at all between the holidays.

Fortunately, the lawyer got in touch in the second week of January, and he didn't understand why the money hadn't been transferred. He offered to make a new appointment with the bank, for which he of course demanded money in advance. As he had to travel an extra 150 kilometres for this, we also intervened to help. The lawyer got in touch a day later to say that the bank hadn't really given any information about where the money had gone. The bank simply explained succinctly that something may have gone wrong, but that there was nothing more the bank could do.

I will now describe the end without going into any more detail. Melli is left with nothing. For the second time, the money due to her has gone somewhere or something else has happened. She has run up private debts in the justified belief that she can pay off all her creditors. She has to initiate a third lawsuit. She is at the end of her faith in justice and the law, and is now both mentally and physically very much under attack. She can no longer sleep properly at night and is ageing faster than is normal. These last few years have taken their toll on her as a mother and I can see how she is suffering. All the other supporters are also at a loss for words and are understandably unsure of how to cope with another trial with an unpredictable outcome.

That is why I am calling for this fundraising campaign. Personally, I think it would be better to put an end to the horror now so that she is not exposed to the burden of another trial and can become a mother again, as a child needs. The sum given here is therefore only the amount she needs to fulfil her personal obligations (rent, electricity, taxes, car repairs, all of which she has put off in good faith) and to return some of the loans that have affected families. The rest are waiving repayment, but are unable to finance a third lawsuit.

Last but not least, there was also the recent news that the maintenance payments were stopped by the office, as the office has determined that the father is solvent, contrary to his statement. But that will probably be a new chapter.

Thank you for taking the time to read this far. But I feel the need to help Melli and I hope I have explained the situation clearly. Melli doesn't know anything about my action because she would forbid me to initiate something like this. In fact, I'm sure that if Melli does get hold of her court-ordered money, she will try to track you down to pay back your donations.

With kind regards

Supporter Stefan