My question involves divorce in the State of: Tennessee
Hello, I'll try to make this as clear as possible. My parents (mother and step-dad) are about to go through a divorce in the state of TN. They have been married for about 23 years, and all children are adults now. So, 2 years ago my mother met another man and filed for divorce, to which my stepdad countered back on the grounds that she had an affair. It got very ugly and my mother ended up having to get an order of protection, which he constantly violated and was arrested once because of it. After a few months they ended up getting back together and giving it another shot. Well, it didn't work and now shes back with the man she met before (she left the house) and it looks like its just a matter of time before one of them files again. She is scared to fight him in court because of her affair and thinks she wont get anything. He has been very mentally and physically abusive to her through out most of the marriage, and has been sentenced to prison for 2+ years twice for burglary and has been arrested for theft multiple times throughout those 23 years. What he is doing now is removing and having his friend hide all of the things that he thinks my mother would ask for in the divorce, and will just claim that he sold them. He has the mentallity of someone who thinks he is one up on the system, and maybe he is in this case, but my question is what kind of advice do I give to my mother in this case? Tell her to fight him in court or just to let him have everything and avoid all of the court room drama? She is leaning towards just letting him have everything because she is scared to death to fight him in court because he will bring up her affair (which she has said she would freely admit to), and doesn't think she'd get anything because of it. Any help with this one would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
ps. He owns his own business, has for about 15 years, and has not paid any taxes in about 20 years (files for an extension each year and then just never does anything after that, and has somehow gotten away with it this long), which is one of the reasons my mom wants out before she gets in trouble too.

