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.
Social media has become such an important part of our lives. However, when going through a divorce, you may want to be a little more cautious. I am thrilled to welcome guest blogger, Elizabeth Billies, to share the seven don'ts of social media during a divorce.
7 Tips for Social Media During Your Di...
Talking to your kids about divorce is one of the hardest parts of the whole process.
You are managing your own emotions while trying to find the right words for theirs. You want to be honest without overwhelming them. You want them to feel safe and loved even as everything around them is changing...
Preparing for an impending divorce is more than just picking up the phone and calling an attorney. There are the emotional aspects, financial, legal, and, of course, there are parenting issues. It means figuring out what life is going to look like when it's all said and done and includes preparing y...
Editor's note: The mortgage lending guidance in this post reflects the expertise of a Certified Divorce Lending Specialist and covers principles that hold true regardless of market conditions. Specific figures such as interest rates and home values shift over time. Always confirm current qualificati...
Most women I work with did not call a financial professional the day they decided to divorce. They called months later, after the attorney, after the first ugly conversation, after a settlement proposal was already sitting on the table.
By then, a lot of the useful decisions have already been made....
Bring three years of tax returns, recent pay stubs, and current statements for every bank, investment, retirement, and loan account, plus mortgage statements, insurance and annuity policies, Social Security estimates, and profit and loss statements for any business. Organise them in one place before...
One of the questions I hear most often is:
“How do I know if my spouse is hiding money?”
Sometimes that question comes with a very specific concern.
Maybe a bonus suddenly disappeared. Maybe a business is involved. Maybe bank statements have become harder to access. Maybe your spouse’s lifestyle doe...
If you find yourself currently contemplating the possibility of getting a divorce, it's crucial to ensure that you are well-prepared for the journey that lies ahead. Going through a divorce can be an emotionally challenging and complex process, but with the right preparation, you can navigate it mor...
I find myself supporting quite a few stay-at-home moms with their divorces. I think that's because stay-at-home moms know with absolute certainty that they cannot afford to make costly financial mistakes in their divorce settlements. When you don't have your own income, and your income is entirely d...
After more than a decade of helping women navigate divorce, I can tell you that the clients who come out of the process feeling the most confident and in control are almost always the ones who prepared financially before they ever filed paperwork. It does not matter whether the divorce was their ide...
Divorce is expensive. I've heard that the national average is around $20,000-25,000. Transitioning from marriage to divorce is hard enough without the hefty price tag. However, if you look at search engine traffic, a lot more people are searching for how they can protect their money in a divorce rat...
"Who gets the house?" is one of the first questions that comes up when couples start talking about divorce. In my more than 20 years as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, I have heard it thousands of times, and the honest answer is always the same: it depends.
The family home is not like other a...