The stress of a divorce is often much less than you think and it can certainly be much less than living the rest of your life in an unhappy or possibly unsafe marital situation. In some cases, divorce can actually be the stepping stone to a much happier life.

The key thing to remember if you move forward with a divorce is to make sure you have a strong support network. Do what you can to make sure your work situation is stable, you have friends to talk to and you take care of your basics like eating, exercise, etc. Know that it will be stressful at times and “embrace the suck”, but keep in mind, that it is only temporary.

Talk to a good divorce attorney as well. Know your rights going into the process. I found some extremely helpful information about my divorce on my divorce attorney’s site.

I hope this helps.

Clearly, getting a divorce is an emotionally tumultuous process, but there are some basic things you’ll need to settle before you’re ready to go before a judge. Here are some basics:

Child Custody: if you have minor-aged children, you’ll need to consider which parent they will live with after the divorce. For some couples, this is obvious whereas it’s a struggle for others.

Child Support: this is more about the financial aspects of having children. Obviously, kids need stuff- braces, camp, sports, etc. The child support issue relates to how these things will be paid for.

Alimony: some couples earn roughly the same amount whereas others have very different incomes. Alimony pertains to the financial support one spouse will give to the other.

Asset Division:  this is the difficult task of diving up the assets owned by the two spouses. In some cases, this is a simple process but not so much for others.

These are the 4 main points that a couple needs to make decisions about prior to divorcing.

What you also need to consider is where you will live, how you will afford to pay for your place, etc. You also This is just one of many things to consider prior to getting a divorce.  I hope this helps.

By the way, you can read more about all this on my divorce attorney’s website.

I didn’t have this, so I’ll answer as a complete outsider. A collaborative divorce is when both spouses struggle to agree on various points about divorce but decide to avoid going to court. This process involves bringing in third parties such as therapists to help make decisions about child custody, child support, etc.

Essentially, this process involves getting others to negotiate the necessary details about divorce when the spouses can’t come to an agreement themselves.

Here is some information about it I found on my divorce attorney’s website.  Hope that helps.