Rixx Javix, One of EVE Online’s biggest fan art creators, is having some real life trouble, and he needs our help! EN24 loved the fanart that he has created so we have decided to help him out a bit!
There are two ways you can help:
GoFundMe
This fund is intended to address our immediate financial emergency and keep Rixx out of jail.
Patreon
I’ve established a Patreon page that will help me continue to create on-going creative projects for the Eve community.
Choose to help in whatever way makes sense to you. Your help is greatly appreciated.
I can’t begin to tell you how much I loathe having to ask for your help. I’ve always taken care of my own business and squarely accepted the responsibilities that go along with it. But there is nothing inherently wrong with accepting that sometimes life gets beyond you, that often there is nothing left, no other options available, and the only saving grace in the midst of catastrophic events is to humbly accept that you need help.
Let me quickly bring you up to speed. For my part I’ve been involved in a messy and expensive divorce for the past ten years. I am re-married and have been for over six years now to the love of my life, and fellow Eve player, Omega Minus and her three children. My own son, who was 12 when the divorce started is now grown and married himself. He and I started playing Eve eight years ago as a way for us both to deal with the divorce. Over the past ten years I have paid every single cent the court has ordered me to pay. My ex-wife got the house and its contents, the majority of our savings, my retirement funds, and a very generous alimony settlement. Again, ALL of which I paid. The trick is this, back when we signed the settlement I happened to own a business. And this would be the thing that threw everything else into Hell.
Back in 2008 when the agreement was finally signed, after three years of fighting and incredible legal costs, my business was having its best year ever. The future looked bright. As we all know late 2008 saw the beginnings of the worst economic downturn in recent American history. Several of our largest accounts were directly or indirectly connected to the mortgage industry. To make an incredibly long story short, we fought and did our best, but by early 2012 I made the decision to close the business. This primarily happened because I no longer had any personal funds to feed into the business. In fact, during 2011 we were actually coming back and had nine straight months of profitability. At that time we had nearly $1 million in debts on the books. About half of which I was personally responsible for. This forced us into bankruptcy.
We made huge changes in our lives. Downsizing everything we could. Selling everything we could. And I began life after owning my own business for over a decade. We struggled, we strived, but all along we knew that the divorce would finally be over in the Summer of 2013.
The same day I returned from court and closed out the divorce I received a summons in the mail to appear once again. My ex-wife was suing for even more money. There was a clause in the agreement that was intended to protect her portion of the marital asset known as my business. Given that the business had closed in 2012 I felt that section of the agreement no longer applied. Sadly the court did not agree. And so my ex was awarded another $40,000 settlement and the court demanded that I pay an additional $1,750 a month until it was paid in full. Despite rendering me essentially un-employable, despite our on-going financial challenges, despite rational and logical thought. I continued to pay what I could afford each month, but it was not enough.
And so we come to today. In January they dragged me back into court and demanded that I be found in contempt and face yet more fines, legal fees and interest on the original amount – which has already blossomed into more than $67,000 dollars!
We are in the process of downsizing our current home of eight years. It is essentially our last remaining asset. We are going to try and sell it and use any remaining “profit” from that sale to pay down the total amount owed. However, given our poor financial prospects these past four years, the house frankly is not in great shape. We have our doubts about its market value.
Yesterday the court found me to be in contempt. Unless I can pay the fines and legal fees, in addition to the 1,750 a month, come May I will be ordered to serve up to six months in the county jail. The court admits that this is essentially kidnapping and ransom, they feel that once you are in jail someone will show up to pay the amount owed. My ex-wife’s lawyer told me in January that she will not rest until I am behind bars.
We are working hard to pursue legal recourse. We are exploring every option. We have a new home to move into. We are working on getting our current home on the market. My own professional career is finally starting to bear fruit and we are trying to get back on our feet. But these additional costs are beyond us alone.
This is why I am asking for your help today. As I explained above we’ve created two ways in which you can help if you so choose.
Thank you to all of you that have reached out to us in the past few days, your words and thoughts mean the world to us and our family.
I will answer any questions in the comments, or feel free to email me, convo me, tweet me, however you want if you need more information or have any concerns.
If you can’t help I understand. And your well wishes and your thoughts are important to us as well. The Eve community has seen us thru the last eight years in ways that are difficult to communicate. So thank you for that.
Sincerely,
Rixx and Omega
