Introduction: Your Divorce Companion | p. 1 |
1 Getting Oriented | p. 3 |
Taking the High Road | p. 4 |
Separation or Divorce? | p. 5 |
Annulment | p. 10 |
Family Court | p. 12 |
Kinds of Divorces | p. 13 |
Property, Custody, and Support | p. 24 |
Getting Help From Experts | p. 26 |
2 First Steps After You Decide to Divorce | p. 27 |
Breaking the News | p. 28 |
Where Will Everyone Live? | p. 30 |
Gathering Financial information | p. 33 |
Managing Your Family's Money | p. 37 |
Getting Legal and Other Professional Help Early | p. 52 |
Taking Care of Yourself | p. 53 |
3 When You Can Agree: Uncontested Divorce | p. 55 |
Basics of the Uncontested Divorce | p. 57 |
Summary Dissolution for Short-Term Marriages | p. 57 |
Default Divorce | p. 59 |
Preparing and Filing Legal Papers | p. 62 |
How the Other Spouse Can Respond | p. 79 |
Negotiating a Settlement and Preparing a Marital Settlement Agreement | p. 79 |
Finalizing Your Uncontested Divorce | p. 81 |
4 Working It Out: Divorce Mediation | p. 85 |
Why Divorce Mediation Works | p. 86 |
What Does Mediation Cost? | p. 88 |
Is Mediation Right for You? | p. 90 |
Suggesting Mediation to Your Spouse | p. 92 |
Choosing a Mediator | p. 94 |
Choosing and Working With a Lawyer | p. 102 |
The Mediation Process | p. 103 |
How to Make Your Mediation a Success | p. 110 |
After the Mediation, the Paperwork | p. 111 |
If Mediation Doesn't Work | p. 112 |
5 When You Can't Agree: Contested Divorce and Trial | p. 113 |
Finding the Right Lawyer | p. 117 |
Paying the Lawyer | p. 122 |
Is Fault a Factor? | p. 128 |
Getting Started | p. 131 |
Gathering Information for Trial: Disclosures, Discovery, and Digging Up Dirt | p. 135 |
Settle, Settle, Settle! | p. 139 |
The Pretrial Conference | p. 142 |
Anatomy of a Divorce Trial | p. 143 |
After the Trial | p. 148 |
6 Custody Decisions and Parenting | p. 153 |
Physical and Legal Custody | p. 155 |
The High Road: Agreeing With Your Spouse on a Parenting Plan | p. 156 |
Helping Your Kids Cope With Divorce | p. 167 |
Making Shared Parenting Work | p. 175 |
Trying to Get Along With Your Ex | p. 183 |
When It Comes to Divorce, Grownups Are Kids, Too | p. 183 |
7 Custody Disputes | p. 185 |
The Low Road: Fighting It Out in Court | p. 186 |
How Courts Handle Custody Disputes | p. 187 |
If the Custodial Spouse Interferes With Visitation | p. 198 |
If One Parent Wants to Move Away | p. 199 |
Drug and Alcohol Abuse | p. 201 |
8 Child Support | p. 205 |
Who Pays Support? | p. 206 |
Temporary Support While the Divorce Is Pending | p. 207 |
Working It Out Yourselves | p. 208 |
How Courts Decide Support Amounts | p. 209 |
Estimating Child Support in Your Family | p. 212 |
How Support Is Paid Each Month | p. 214 |
If You're the Recipient: Enforcing Child Support Orders | p. 218 |
If You're the Paying Spouse | p. 219 |
How Long Support Lasts | p. 221 |
If Circumstances Change | p. 223 |
Taxes and Your Children | p. 225 |
Health Insurance | p. 228 |
9 Yours, Mine, and Ours: Basics of Marital Property | p. 231 |
Taking Inventory | p. 232 |
What Property Gets Divided | p. 233 |
Identifying Community Property | p. 236 |
Getting Financial Information | p. 238 |
Is Your Spouse Hiding Assets? | p. 238 |
10 Yours, Mine, and Uncle Sam's: Dividing Property | p. 243 |
You're in Control | p. 245 |
How Judges Divide Property | p. 246 |
What to Do With the House | p. 252 |
Dividing Your Other Assets | p. 266 |
What to Do With a Family Business | p. 276 |
Dividing Debt | p. 280 |
Tax Consequences of How You Divide Property | p. 288 |
Retirement Benefits | p. 291 |
Money Now and Later | p. 298 |
11 Spousal Support and Health Insurance | p. 301 |
Basics of Spousal Support | p. 303 |
Types of Spousal Support and How Long They Last | p. 305 |
How Courts Set the Amount of Support | p. 308 |
Negotiating Support With Your Spouse | p. 311 |
Planning for Possible Disability or Death of the Supporting Spouse | p. 315 |
Changing the Amount of Spousal Support Later | p. 316 |
Tax Planning When You Pay or Receive Support | p. 317 |
Keeping Health Insurance in Force | p. 319 |
12 Military Divorce: Special Issues | p. 323 |
Beginning a Divorce | p. 325 |
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act | p. 331 |
Custody and Visitation | p. 333 |
Support for Children and Spouses | p. 336 |
Dividing Property | p. 342 |
Pensions, Insurance, and Other Benefits | p. 342 |
Tax Issues | p. 351 |
Domestic Violence and Other Abuse | p. 351 |
Postdivorce Follow-Up | p. 353 |
Resources | p. 353 |
13 Getting It in Writing: Preparing Your Marital Settlement Agreement | p. 355 |
What It Is, What It Does | p. 356 |
Creating the Agreement | p. 357 |
Negotiations | p. 358 |
Doing the Math | p. 376 |
Consulting a Lawyer | p. 377 |
Completing the Paperwork | p. 389 |
14 Critical Care: When Things Really Go Wrong | p. 391 |
Domestic Violence | p. 392 |
Child Abuse | p. 395 |
Kidnapping | p. 396 |
Bankruptcy | p. 399 |
15 After the Divorce | p. 403 |
You're Not Done Yet: Ten Postdivorce Tasks You Can't Ignore | p. 405 |
The Kid Connection | p. 416 |
Modifying Spousal Support | p. 421 |
Your Right to Social Security | p. 421 |
Dating and New Relationships | p. 422 |
Hope Springs Eternal: Remarriage | p. 424 |
Getting Help and Helping Yourself | p. 425 |
16 Getting Help, Finding Information, and Looking Stuff Up | p. 431 |
More Great Books | p. 432 |
Getting Divorce Information and Forms | p. 436 |
Help With Negotiations | p. 439 |
Financial Advice | p. 439 |
Document Preparation Services | p. 442 |
Legal Advice | p. 444 |
Other Ways to Look Things Up | p. 447 |
Appendix | p. 453 |
Index | p. 469 |