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| Introduction: Your Divorce Companion | |
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| Getting Oriented | |
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| Taking the High Road | |
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| Separation or Divorce? | |
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| Annulment | |
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| Family Court | |
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| Kinds of Divorces | |
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| Property, Custody, and Support | |
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| Getting Help From Experts | |
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| First Steps After You Decide to Divorce | |
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| Breaking the News | |
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| Where Will Everyone Live? | |
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| Gathering Financial Information | |
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| Managing Your Family's Money | |
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| Getting Legal and Other Professional Help Early | |
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| Taking Care of Yourself | |
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| When You Can Agree: Uncontested Divorce | |
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| Basics of the Uncontested Divorce | |
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| Summary Dissolution for Short-Term Marriages | |
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| Default Divorce | |
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| Preparing and Filing Legal Papers | |
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| How the Other Spouse Can Respond | |
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| Negotiating a Settlement and Preparing a Marital Settlement Agreement | |
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| Finalizing Your Uncontested Divorce | |
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| Working It Out: Divorce Mediation | |
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| Why Divorce Mediation Works | |
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| What Does Mediation Cost? | |
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| Is Mediation Right for You? | |
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| Suggesting Mediation to Your Spouse | |
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| Choosing a Mediator | |
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| Choosing and Working With a Lawyer | |
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| The Mediation Process | |
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| How to Make Your Mediation a Success | |
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| After the Mediation, the Paperwork | |
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| If Mediation Doesn't Work | |
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| When You Can't Agree: Contested Divorce arid Trial | |
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| Finding the Right Lawyer | |
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| Paying the Lawyer | |
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| Is Fault a Factor? | |
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| Getting Started | |
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| Gathering Information for Trial: Disclosures, Discovery, and Digging Up Dirt | |
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| Settle, Settle, Settle! | |
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| The Pretrial Conference | |
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| Anatomy of a Divorce Trial | |
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| After the Trial | |
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| Custody Decisions and Parenting | |
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| Physical and Legal Custody | |
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| The High Road: Agreeing With Your Spouse on a Parenting Plan | |
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| Helping Your Kids Cope With Divorce | |
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| Making Shared Parenting Work | |
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| Trying to Get Along With Your Ex | |
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| When It Comes to Divorce, Grownups Are Kids, Too | |
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| Custody Disputes | |
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| The Low Road: Fighting It Out in Court | |
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| How Courts Handle Custody Disputes | |
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| If the Custodial Spouse Interferes With Visitation | |
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| If One Parent Wants to Move Away | |
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| Drug and Alcohol Abuse | |
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| Child Support | |
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| Who Pays Support? | |
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| Temporary Support While the Divorce Is Pending | |
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| Working It Out Yourselves | |
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| How Courts Decide Support Amounts | |
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| Estimating Child Support in Your Family | |
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| How Support Is Paid Each Month | |
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| If You're the Recipient: Enforcing Child Support Orders | |
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| If You're the Paying Spouse | |
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| How Long Support Lasts | |
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| If Circumstances Change | |
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| Taxes and Your Children | |
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| Health Insurance | |
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| Yours, Mine, and Ours: Basics of Marital Property | |
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| Taking Inventory | |
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| What Property Gets Divided | |
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| Identifying Community Property | |
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| Getting Financial Information | |
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| Is Your Spouse Hiding Assets? | |
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| Yours, Mine, and Uncle Sam's: Dividing Property | |
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| You're in Control | |
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| How Judges Divide Property | |
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| What to Do With the House | |
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| Dividing Your Other Assets | |
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| What to Do With a Family Business | |
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| Dividing Debt | |
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| Tax Consequences of How You Divide Property | |
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| Retirement Benefits | |
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| Money Now and Later | |
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| Spousal Support and Health Insurance | |
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| Types of Spousal Support and How Long They Last | |
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| How Courts Set the Amount of Support | |
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| Negotiating Support With Your Spouse | |
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| Planning for Possible Disability or Death of the Supporting Spouse | |
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| Changing the Amount of Spousal Support Later | |
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| Tax Planning When You Pay or Receive Support | |
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| Keeping Health Insurance in Force | |
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| Military Divorce: Special Issues | |
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| Beginning a Divorce | |
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| The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act | |
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| Custody and Visitation | |
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| Support for Children and Spouses | |
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| Dividing Property | |
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| Pensions, Insurance, and Other Benefits | |
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| Tax Issues | |
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| Domestic Violence and Other Abuse | |
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| Postdivorce Follow-Up | |
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| Resources | |
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| Getting It in Writing: Preparing Your Marital Settlement Agreement | |
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| What It Is, What It Does | |
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| Creating the Agreement | |
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| Negotiations | |
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| Doing the Math | |
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| Consulting a Lawyer | |
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| Completing the Paperwork | |
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| Critical Care: When Things Really Go Wrong | |
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| Domestic Violence | |
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| Child Abuse | |
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| Kidnapping | |
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| Bankruptcy | |
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| After the Divorce | |
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| You're Not Done Yet: Ten Postdivorce Tasks You Can't Ignore | |
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| The Kid Connection | |
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| Modifying Spousal Support | |
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| Your Right to Social Security | |
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| Dating and New Relationships | |
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| Hope Springs Eternal: Remarriage | |
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| Getting Help and Helping Yourself | |
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| Getting Help, Finding Information, and Looking Stuff Up | |
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| More Great Books | |
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| Getting Divorce Information and Forms | |
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| Help With Negotiations | |
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| Financial Advice | |
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| Document Preparation Services | |
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| Legal Advice | |
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| Other Ways to Look Things Up | |
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| Appendix | |
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| Index | |