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Divorce Without Court: A Guide to Mediation & Collaborative Divorce
The all-in-one guide that shows couples how to end a marriage, fairly and inexpensively. Can you really have a civilized divorce? Ending a marriage is always difficult, but it need not be defined by financial or emotional conflict. Avoid huge legal bills and jockeying lawyers while protecting your kids -- turn to Divorce Without Court for help. The book guides you through a negotiated divorce, using divorce mediation or a new approach called "collaborative divorce." Encouraging and straightforward, Divorce Without Court explains how mediation works, how collaborative divorce works, how to use either to end a marriage, how to maximize opportunities for settlement, how to get an agreement in writing and how to find and use advisors. Divorce Without Court provides the latest resources, contact information for state offices, national and regional organizations, and clear examples of what you can expect.
- GenresRelationships
481 pages, Paperback
First published May 21, 2006
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28 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 7, 2023
Nolo is a long-time publisher of DIY manuals for people with legal issues. How to Do Your Own Divorce in California was an instant classic back in 1971, since I guess a lot of people woke up with some bad hangovers from the Summer of Love, and Divorce Without Court is an update for the 21st century.
The writing isn't as engaging as I Just Want This Done, but it makes a strong case for not going to trial, and provides some useful advice and checklists about how to pick a mediator and what to expect at various stages in the mediation process.
The writing isn't as engaging as I Just Want This Done, but it makes a strong case for not going to trial, and provides some useful advice and checklists about how to pick a mediator and what to expect at various stages in the mediation process.
July 17, 2012
Let's be honest - the first thing to go out the window in the middle of a divorce is usually common sense. Emotions run high, tempers flare, and things get ugly. Which is where this book comes in - a genuine and reasonable attempt to insert some common sense into an emotionally-charged process.
Divorce Without Court is a well-organized and thorough document of two specific divorce processes: mediated and collaborative divorce. They are basically the way divorces should go, ideally, if the couple can be reasonable and civil to one another. We all know it doesn't often happen that way, but this approach is worth considering.
For those methods, I found Divorce Without Court very informative and well-documented. There's a lot of repetition and chances are good that, even if you're using the methods described, not all of the subject matter will apply to your situation. Most of the chapters include a summary at the beginning and advice about when you're good to skip that chapter, or when you should be reading it, so you won't waste much time in reading things you don't need, and you almost certainly won't need to read the whole book.
The book also includes chapters near the end on other situations, including legalities for unmarried and/or same-sex couples, and what to do when you're considering the legal ramifications of a new relationship. There's also lots of other resources referred to in each chapter, both printed sources and online, and worksheet templates you can use to shape the process in the Appendices.
Simply put, if you are using a mediator or collaborative lawyer, or considering either of these for your divorce, this is an excellent book to read as a reference and you'll likely get a lot out of it. If your divorce is going the traditional court route, or if you're doing it yourself, then this is almost certainly not the book you should be reading.
I personally did not go through a mediator or collaborating lawyer approach in my divorce, but I still found many tidbits and useful information in it. In the end, the information and advice in these pages helped inject some common sense into a difficult process, and even though my divorce didn't fit the profile described here, I'm glad I read this when I did.
Because even a little common sense is a good thing.
Divorce Without Court is a well-organized and thorough document of two specific divorce processes: mediated and collaborative divorce. They are basically the way divorces should go, ideally, if the couple can be reasonable and civil to one another. We all know it doesn't often happen that way, but this approach is worth considering.
For those methods, I found Divorce Without Court very informative and well-documented. There's a lot of repetition and chances are good that, even if you're using the methods described, not all of the subject matter will apply to your situation. Most of the chapters include a summary at the beginning and advice about when you're good to skip that chapter, or when you should be reading it, so you won't waste much time in reading things you don't need, and you almost certainly won't need to read the whole book.
The book also includes chapters near the end on other situations, including legalities for unmarried and/or same-sex couples, and what to do when you're considering the legal ramifications of a new relationship. There's also lots of other resources referred to in each chapter, both printed sources and online, and worksheet templates you can use to shape the process in the Appendices.
Simply put, if you are using a mediator or collaborative lawyer, or considering either of these for your divorce, this is an excellent book to read as a reference and you'll likely get a lot out of it. If your divorce is going the traditional court route, or if you're doing it yourself, then this is almost certainly not the book you should be reading.
I personally did not go through a mediator or collaborating lawyer approach in my divorce, but I still found many tidbits and useful information in it. In the end, the information and advice in these pages helped inject some common sense into a difficult process, and even though my divorce didn't fit the profile described here, I'm glad I read this when I did.
Because even a little common sense is a good thing.
January 26, 2019
This book was completely unhelpful to me and my situation on to the next attempt!
March 19, 2017
If you're not sure what mediation/collaboration is or if you think you want to choose one of these, this book could be a very useful resource. If you have already chosen to mediate or collaborate, then you won't get much out of reading it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews