Post-Season Financial Preparedness: Who Owns the Holiday Gifts?

holiday gifts and divorce

If you were lucky enough to receive a particularly high-value gift over the holiday season, and you are also married or soon-to-be-married, then you may want to take a moment to consider the ownership of that gift. While no one wants to think about the possibility of divorce during happy times, those happy times often present the best opportunity for planning. Financial preparedness is like insurance—if you wait to think about it until you need it, you could be too late.

So what are the rules in New Jersey regarding gifts and divorce? Read more

7 Steps To Filing For Divorce In New Jersey

filing for divorce in new jersey

You’ve made the decision to divorce, so what can you expect next? The divorce process will require you to divide all marital assets and debts, establish alimony and child support if applicable, and determine custody arrangements for your children. To get the process started, you first need to file the appropriate forms and paperwork. Here are seven important steps to take during this initial stage of divorce: Read more

Answering Older Children’s Questions About Divorce

older kids and divorce

One of the most difficult tasks of divorce is telling your children you’re splitting up. Before you sit down to give them the news, it’s important to anticipate questions they might have and be prepared for how to answer them. Read more

How To Protect Children of Divorce From Depression

children and divorceUp to 25% of children whose parents divorce have emotional and behavioral difficulties, as compared to 10% of children from intact homes. How do you know if your child is one of the 25% — and how do you help him? Read more

New Jersey Divorce Chronicles Part 12: Will Sharon and Robert Go to Trial?

help for divorce issues
In our last installment of our ongoing divorce case study series, we saw Melissa and Jason making good progress with the division of their marital assets and debts in mediation. Meanwhile, the disappointing recommendations Sharon got from the Marital Early Settlement Panel (MESP) in Part 8 just seemed to get worse for her in Part 10. Read more

Dividing a Family Business in Divorce

dividing a family business in divorceWhen owners of family or closely held businesses divorce, they may wonder whether or not they are going to have to divide their business as part of asset division, and if so, what exactly that might mean for their financial future. A “closely held” business is either family-owned or has shares owned by a small group of investors. If you are one of these family business or small business owners, what divorce options do you have? Read more

6 Perilous Divorce Mistakes Women Make

divorce mistakes made by women Divorce is one of the most difficult life transitions anyone can face, but the truth is, everyone handles divorce in their own way. Women going through divorce can face unique stresses and may be more prone to making certain errors and missteps during the process (the same goes for men, which we will explore in a future blog). Here’s a look at some of the most common divorce mistakes women make – and how to avoid them. Read more

Putting Narcissism & Divorce into Perspective: Negotiate with Caution

divorcing a narcisst In a couple of recent posts, we discussed what it can be like to go through a divorce from a narcissist. In “Divorcing a Narcissist: 5 Steps to Protect Yourself” we talked about how your narcissistic soon-to-be-ex-spouse might blame you for everything and try to control every aspect of the divorce—including your post-divorce life. In “Divorcing A Narcissist: 5 Strategies For Getting Through It” we offered some tips for defusing high conflict interactions with an ex who feeds on conflict and will stop at nothing in trying to gain the upper hand.

If you’ve been reading all of this and you recognize your own ex in our descriptions, you might be feeling more than a little bit discouraged and intimidated. Perhaps you were hoping for a low conflict divorce, were considering mediation, or at least hoped to settle some of your issues out of court. If your ex is so self-centered that seeing anyone else’s side is out of the question, how can you possibly proceed?

Well, take a deep breath and a step back while we take a closer look at some of these issues: Read more