Divorce & Parenting Arrangements
Most parents experiencing a divorce tell me that their primary concern is their children’s best interests. And most of the time I believe them. However, that doesn’t mean their children’s best interests are always automatically foremost in their minds when...[Continue reading]
Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods
“Alternative” refers to alternatives to litigation (the court process). If you need to resolve a conflict, but don’t want to go through the court process (I advise avoiding court if possible!) then you have alternatives to consider. I strongly recommend...[Continue reading]
Gathering Information
Regardless of the process you use to go through a divorce, you must gather information in order to make informed decisions. There are numerous ways to gather information, ranging from relatively simple and inexpensive to increasingly complex and increasingly expensive....[Continue reading]
Basics of Collaborative Law
Collaboration means to work together to achieve a common goal. The collaborative process involves the spouses, their attorneys and any other involved professionals engaging in non-confrontational sessions to discuss the issues and goals of the involved individuals. The issues may...[Continue reading]
Basics of Mediation
Mediation is negotiating with the assistance of a neutral third party (the mediator) who facilitates the negotiation process. Mediation involves non-adversarial negotiation between individuals based on their interests, needs and concerns. It is usually an informal process, with the mediation...[Continue reading]
Divorce Coaches
Divorce coaches can make a huge difference in the divorce process. The divorce coach acts as a neutral professional helping to foster healthy, productive communication between the divorcing spouses. Divorce coaches are psychologists, therapists, social workers and other individuals with...[Continue reading]
Can’t a Judge Decide Everything?
Yes. A judge (or at least the court system) can decide everything in your family law dispute, whether it involves divorce, division of property, support or parenting arrangements (custody) or some combination of these issues. Of course, before you decide...[Continue reading]
Financial Cost of Divorce
Who decides how much a divorce costs? In large part, you and your spouse make that decision. Your actions, attitudes and approaches to the divorce process can have a significant effect on the financial cost. And the personal cost, but...[Continue reading]
Valuing Assets
If you’re experiencing a divorce or administering an estate, you will probably need to value assets. In answer to a question I’ve heard many times, there is no one “right” way to value assets. There are many different methods and...[Continue reading]
My Neighbor’s Divorce
Most of us have heard about or personally witnessed other people (neighbors, family members, friends etc.) going through the divorce process. Whether those observations or reports were positive, negative or somewhere in between, each person’s situation is unique. There are...[Continue reading]