The Divorce Handbook

From the Introduction: Over the forty years that I have practiced matrimonial and family law in New York State, I have often been asked to share the methods that our office created and refined to serve our clients so successfully, and to relate some of our clients' stories. The result is this book, a sort of Reader's Digest guide to getting through a divorce with the best possible outcome, personally, emotionally and financially. Women makeup 85 percent of my clients, so I decided that women considering divorce could benefit the most from such a handbook. To put the legal issues in perspective, the odd-numbered chapters represent our office policy and protocol that we have developed over the years. The even-numbered chapters reflect a composite of some of our clients who tell how they went through their own divorces, from a simple case to an average standard divorce to a highly complex case involving custody, enhanced earnings, maintenance/alimony, and distribution of significant dollar assets. I firmly believe the title's admonition: Divorce is "A Chess Match You Cannot Afford to Lose!," learned from our office's experience with thousands of women's cases. Clients interviewed for this book agreed that sharing their experiences would help other women of all ages, professional standing, heritage, and personal situations to prepare for their own divorces.