Not helpful

My wife told her co-worker about the court situation, and the co-worker told my wife that she knew a man from a long time ago who was a family law attorney in our city whom my wife should call and talk with.

My wife called the stranger.  Let's call him Steve.  She fought her own anxieties and called yet another stranger, knowing she would have to tell this story to yet another person who might say really unhelpful, hurtful things.  Steve gave her a favorable first impression.  Answered her call even though he was driving.  Pulled off the road to be able to give her more attention.  He said that he would talk to my wife the next morning.  His cost: my wife's co-worker would bake him cookies.  My wife got off the phone and sobbed, feeling some relief that somebody was willing to help her.

Today she met Steve at 10am.  I was at work.  At 10:21, I got this text from her: "Not helpful".

She said that Steve hadn't listened to her about her son and his special needs.  Steve said that was a "done deal".  He didn't listen about incorrectly calculated child support from 2013.  He didn't listen about incorrect current child support calculations.  He said my wife was making a mountain out of a molehill.  He took less than 20 minutes of not listening to her and told her to pay the incorrect child support payments and deal with their demands.  Today.

Not helpful, indeed. 
In fact, worse, in my opinion.

And that was, seemingly, my wife's last bit of energy.

She's got nothing left.  So she's going to agree to incorrect child support payments that she needs to make.  Because she doesn't have the energy to do anything else.

And that's a terrible tragedy, in my opinion.  And it makes me so very sad.  More sad than I've felt in a very, very long time.