Making Sense of Those Divorce Legal Forms

The Petition Opens a file: Filing a petition for dissolution of marriage (divorce) simply opens a file at the courthouse and gives you a file number to use in the future.  Nothing else will ever happen if no one files anything further.  In fact, the court is obligated...

Parenting in the Age of COVID

2020 was a year for the history books.  It has had a huge impact on how we live our lives, in ways most of us had never imagined. Parenting children in the age of COVID proves to be challenging even in an intact family. Add in separation and divorce and the areas of...

3 Ways to Manage Kids’ Expenses after the Divorce

Certain mandatory shared children’s expenses are defined in the CA Income and Expense declaration which include: child care for job training and/or work, medical care, special educational needs, and travel related to visitation. But what about other expenses such as extracurricular sports, private school, orthodontia, tutors, birthday parties, even haircuts?

How to Stop Fighting in Front of Your Kids

(Beyond Buttoning Your Lips!) Hold a “Commitment Ceremony” Before you can implement any of the following ideas, you need to have a commitment from your ex (or soon to be ex) that you will both do everything possible to stop fighting in front of the kids. Write it down...