The Intentional Divorce Library
Divorce comes with more financial questions than anyone expects. This is where you'll find real answers on asset division, budgeting, retirement, and the mistakes that quietly cost women the most, written by a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst who has helped clients navigate exactly what you're facing now.
No fluff, no fear tactics. Just the information you need to make clear-eyed decisions and protect the life you're building next.
Not sure where to start?
Every article here is written for a particular moment. Start with the stage that matches where you are, and you will find the handful of pieces that actually apply to you.
- I am considering divorce. Can I afford it, what happens to the house, what should I know before talking to an attorney.
- I am preparing for divorce. Documents, credit, insurance, retirement accounts, and choosing your professional team.
- I am going through divorce. The house, support, dividing retirement, QDROs, taxes, and evaluating a settlement.
- My divorce is final. Retitling assets, confirming the QDRO, beneficiaries, rebuilding cash flow and credit.
Browsing by topic instead? Every category is listed in the sidebar, from QDROs and the family home to co-parenting and life after divorce.
An amicable divorce is one where both spouses resolve the practical decisions, like money, property, and parenting, cooperatively instead of through court battles. You do not have to like each other or agree on much. It means talking directly instead of through attorneys, keeping the decisions with ...
Online divorce mediation works the same way as in-person mediation, over video instead of in a room. A neutral mediator facilitates the conversation, screens are shared so you can see the agreement being built in real time, and sessions can be scheduled outside standard office hours. For most couple...
Most jurisdictions have no spousal support calculator, so in mediation the number is negotiated rather than computed. The analysis starts with what the recipient needs and what the payor can afford, both established from a detailed look at income and expenses. From there, four things have to be sett...
If you're wondering how to keep your house in a divorce, you're not alone. A lot of our clients have sentimental attachments to their homes. Your home is where you’ve made so many memories. It's where you raised your family. You may have close relationships with your neighbors or other strong ties t...
After reviewing hundreds of divorce settlement agreements as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, I always come back to one critical question: Can you actually uphold this agreement?
It sounds simple, but you'd be surprised how many people sign divorce settlements they can't realistically maintai...
You might already be familiar with open enrollment, but let's take a moment to talk about what it really means in the context of divorce and life changes since those things will make an impact on how you select insurance plans during this period!
While the timing of open enrollment can vary with d...
The issue of health insurance comes up in many of my cases as it can be a huge added expense post-divorce. You can’t stay on someone’s health insurance when you get divorced, but no one talks about the things you need to know and options that are available to you. For instance, what do you do when y...
A full business valuation is not always necessary in divorce mediation. Depending on the business, four lower-cost alternatives can produce a number both spouses will accept: confirming whether the business has separable value at all, using comparable sale prices, appraising capital equipment, or re...
Raise mediation at a calm moment, not in the middle of a conflict. Lead with what your spouse gains rather than what you want: lower cost, more control, and privacy. Keep the first ask short and make it a question rather than a decision you have already taken. If direct conversation reliably goes ba...
It may or may not come as a surprise to you that a pension is frequently the largest asset negotiated in a divorce. With that said, it's not a foregone conclusion that you'll have to give up a portion of your pension as part of your divorce settlement. I'm surprised by the number of cases I see in w...
Most divorce mediations take two to four two-hour sessions, following an initial orientation session where the process is explained and both parties sign the agreement to mediate. Calendar time depends far more on how quickly you can both get in the room than on the number of sessions. Couples who s...
Looking for FAFSA tips for divorced parents? In many of my divorce cases, how college expenses will be handled is an issue that needs to be addressed. It's common for parents to wait to divorce until their children are teenagers or young adults. This tends to be around the same time that people are ...
