another thought...

My wife was tired of being bullied.
So she stood her ground.
And she was threatened with police action and expensive legal action.

As much as it pains me, this was to be expected.
No bully ever steps down unless he's been fully and entirely beaten.
Johnny from The Karate Kid didn't stop until he had been beaten in the tournament by Daniel.
The bullying kids in Bad Santa didn't stop until they had been kicked in the nuts, hard, by Therman Merman.
Flash doesn't stop bullying Peter Parker until he is beaten at a game of basketball in front of his friends in The Amazing Spider-Man.
James Bond doesn't stop until the bad guy is dead.

I wish I could think of some real life bullies, but I'm coming up short.

Gandhi!  Gandhi didn't stop getting bullied until the British had been filmed abusing the people of India repeatedly, and it had been reported that they were being unfairly treated.

We don't have Mr. Miyagi, Billy Bob Thorton, a radioactive spider to bite us and turn us into people with superhuman abilities, or the British Secret Service to give us guns, cars, and license to kill.  We also don't have the world press to report the abuses.

And, going back to our situation, we don't have the dollars to stand up for ourselves.  We don't have anything but ourselves to allow us to stand up for anything.

And just standing up isn't enough.

Morpheus stood up.  He got tortured.
Neo stood up.  He got killed.
Kyle Rees stood up.  He got killed.
Gandhi stood up.  He got killed.
Martin Luther King, Jr. stood up.  He got killed.
Rosa Parks didn't stand up.  She went to jail and died of old age.

I hate this whole thing.
I hate most people.
I hate the way our world is structured.
I hate, hate, hate my wife's ex and the way he makes her feel.
I hate that our youngest doesn't talk to us, doesn't tell us how he's feeling.
I hate that I need to bottle up this rage and forget that it exists so that I can make it through an evening with my step-father, mother, two kids, and wife in celebration of father's day, without exploding into a hate rage at anything.  Everything. 
I.  Hate.  That my wife was feeling empowered, and now she's feeling defeated.
It took her 7 years to get to this place.  This healthy place of feeling the self-worth to stand up.
I don't want it to be 7 more years before she allows herself to feel worthy again. 
She is, and always has been, worthy.  Good.  Decent.  Good.  Very good.

I hate him for everything he is.