Houston Chronicle Article

There's a very good (and basic) article in the Houston Chronicle by Eric Tyson about separating your "emotional lives" from your "financial lives" when getting a divorce. Although short, it covers a few of the important basics that people getting a divorce should be aware of, such as:

"One of the most important exercises for spouses is to analyze their individual spending. Lower-income-earning spouses, who are typically women, face the biggest reduction in their standard of living post-divorce. A budget will help during the divorce to justify requests for alimony or child support, as well as with adjusting to a new financial life after divorce."

The full article can be read here.

Family Lawyer Directory With Audio Profiles

The Modern Woman's Divorce Guide (a website with articles and links to resources for women getting a divorce) is launching a new Family Lawyer Directory. There are other directories out there (more than a few) but this one boasts Audio Profiles, presumably to give potential clients more information about the practice. Although info in audio form doesn't necessarily mean it will be "better" or even "different", the idea sounds interesting, and may be worth a look. At the very least, the website offers lots of articles in other sections that could definitely be useful.

LINKS
Article describing the Directory in more detail.
Modern Woman's Divorce Guide website.

USAToday Article

A nice USAToday article about separating finances in a divorce. Here's a checklist they base the article on (the full article has explanations for each of the steps):

CHECKLIST FOR SEPARATING FINANCES

• Gather copies of tax returns; request credit reports.
• Close joint credit card accounts and other lines of credit.
• Pay off household expenses from joint bank accounts; close accounts, and transfer funds into individual accounts.
• Consider selling the house to get it out of both your names. Or, refinance it to put it under one person's name.
• Check overlooked assets: frequent-flier miles, club memberships, vacation pay.
• Update your will and the beneficiary forms on your life insurance and retirement accounts.
• Revise your budget. Consider hiring a financial planner if you don't already have one to do long-term planning.

The full article can be seen here