Okay, so this wasn’t so much a question as it was a comment.  Sometimes people simply want to share their story but without seeking advice. However, Penniless makes for a great case study, if you will, on divorce and what can go wrong and how to fix it.

image source; dreamstime

At the risk of sounding smug, I’d like to warn  of these common divorce mistakes (a few that I’ve made myself). These are only a sampling of many mistakes we make but I’ve narrowed it down to the top five. So, this is a quick and dirty list of what not to do during your divorce.

image source from unsplash by Didier Weemaels

Ideally, we would hire the best lawyer in town to handle our divorce proceedings. That’s not reality, however. The fact of the matter is very few of us can afford a top lawyer, and even many more can barely afford a bottom of the heap lawyer (not that we would recognize that until we’re half way through).

The sad truth about our divorce law is, it isn’t keeping up with the digital age and does nothing to rectify an economic divide when it comes to legal services.

“I have been a divorce lawyer for 20 years and the last time Canada’s Divorce Act was changed was in 1986, pre-dating the internet. In other words, Family Law in Canada operates as if the internet didn’t happen.”-Andrew Feldstein

That may be slowly changing though I’ll expand on that in a moment.

The question becomes should we spend our children’s education fund or our very last penny in our savings account on a lawyer? What choice do we have and how can we mitigate our financial losses during divorce.

Why feel lost when we’re all here, your on-line supporters and friends? Lisa’s divorce support round-up promises to offer something for every kind of divorce; high conflict, co-Parenting with a jerk, looking for love, having trouble dealing with your off the charts, emotions? I could go on and on because the issues we face during divorce are infinite in their variety.

Hello Escapees, how many of you are on facebook? How many of you are on Twitter or Instagram? Yay, me too. I just love checking my social media feeds to see what my friends are up to.

It’s a simple fact that social media is now a big part of our life. It’s almost impossible to

image source Mobile9 on Pinterest

I haven’t actually written about the end of my divorce. I’ve written about the beginning and the middle in my book and here, on the blog. But I think the story of the end of a divorce can be just as interesting as the story of how it all began.

The end, for me was kind of surreal. The official process began before the fire and concluded three months later.  I tend to mark things that happened that year as before and after the fire. And yes, I refer to the end of my divorce as a process in and of itself because as much as we wish it would end already, the end has a beginning and a middle, too. Another thing about endings? They can be false.

image source popcorn-time-free.com

Last week, I found myself watching Erin Brockovich for the up-teenth time. If you have never seen the movie (have you been living under a rock?) then I highly recommend. It was released in 2000 so I guess, like us, it’s considered a classic by now. It was airing on TCM channel, which was my first hint that I’ve likely seen this movie more times

Today’s post is written and sponsored by Canterbury Law Group out of Scottsdale Arizona.

Their tips are spot on and this is a must read for anyone thinking of ending their marriage…

 We all know divorce has become common over the last several decades. Although there may be certain factors associated with divorce that are negative, at least women (and men) today can divorce a spouse and move on to achieve a healthy, happy and thriving future. Women today don’t need to be in a marriage to live a full life; we can prosper on our own.

One of the most challenging experiences for me during my divorce, was simply dealing with lawyers, attending meetings, discoveries, examinations and finally trial.

It can be intimidating to say the least. It’s one thing to sit with your own lawyer in their office but very different to sit across from your ex and his lawyer in a conference room. Add a court reporter, recording devices, piles of documents and know that you’re going to be grilled by a lawyer any moment, and you start to sweat.

source; Dreamstime

I’m very pleased to introduce to you Brad Micklin of The Micklin Law Group out of New Jersey, N.Y.  Brad generously agreed to answer my interview questions and you, dear readers will benefit from his family law wisdom.