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.
I strongly believe in the benefits of choosing mediation for your divorce but it's also important to understand the challenges and prepare for those. The decisions made in mediation can significantly impact your life for years to come. With that in mind, it can be easy to become overwhelmed during t...
Mediation usually stalls for emotional reasons rather than practical ones. Daniel Shapiro of the Harvard International Negotiation Program identifies five traps that pull people into a "me versus you" mindset: vertigo, where the past feels like the present; taboos, the things nobody will name; repet...
Divorce can be one of the most stressful transitions in life, especially when it comes to dividing assets. In many marriages, one spouse handles the finances, including investments, while the other may not be as involved. This can make dividing investment accounts in divorce particularly overwhelmin...
If you're recently divorced and not sure what to do with your ex's retirement account, you're not alone. This is one of the most common questions I hear, and it doesn't go away just because the divorce is final. I regularly talk to people who've been divorced for over a year and still haven't moved ...
Your divorce settlement can change how much financial aid your child qualifies for. The decisions that matter most are which parent ends up providing the majority of financial support, how spousal support is structured, and which assets each of you walks away with. Retirement accounts and home equit...
When working through the financial details of a divorce, one option that may come up is whether to take—or offer—a lump sum alimony payment instead of ongoing monthly spousal support. While it’s not always the most pressing issue in divorce negotiations, it can be an important consideration, especia...
If you have found your way to my blog, I'm guessing that your marriage did not go as planned. Let's face it, in life, there are a lot of things that don’t work out as expected. One of the most challenging examples is when you enter into a marriage with the intention of spending the rest of your life...
A parenting plan should cover the regular schedule, holidays and special occasions, school breaks and sick days, travel, decision-making authority, healthcare, education, expenses, and how the two of you will communicate. The clauses people most often leave out, and later wish they hadn't, are the r...
Are you worried about splitting assets in a divorce?
Worrying over financial decisions is normal on an average day, but when going through a divorce, it can be paralyzing. Unfortunately, the fear around these issues is completely warranted. You only have one chance to get it right, and your divorce...
Dividing pensions in a divorce can be confusing. For starters, some clients that I see are often confused (even after negotiating their divorce settlement) regarding what type of retirement account(s) they have. In this blog, I am referring specifically to defined benefit plans. Defined benefit plan...
A financial neutral is a financial expert, usually a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, hired jointly by both spouses in a collaborative divorce. They gather and organize the financial picture, model what different settlement options mean in the short and long term, and present that analysis to bo...
Most of the time, when I sit down with couples preparing to dissolve their marriage, individuals assume that each account will be divided in half. Did you know that's not always the case? In states like Ohio, where the law requires an equitable distribution of assets in a divorce, it's important to ...