When navigating the minefield of divorce, everything you’ve worked for and everything you care about is up for grabs: your income, your home, custody of your children (if you have them), your sense of security and even your very identity. More hotly contested and drawn out divorce proceedings result in higher costs and greater emotional wreckage.
For a while, mediation was considered the great new panacea, a supposedly more civilized route to a less adversarial – and less expensive – separation agreement upon which to base post-divorce life. But more couples are discovering that alternatives to the lawyer route may not be all they were chalked up to be.
With all that’s at stake, individuals about to separate or divorce want an affordable advocate who will look out for their short- and long-term interests.
Enter the divorce doula – or coach, or consultant – a new breed of divorce support worker in the business of helping individuals navigate the messy job of ending a marriage. Some focus on offering emotional support that isn’t steeped in the sometimes fraught politics of friendship. Others specialize in financial prep work – helping clients complete endless forms, gauging the future value of real estate, RRSPs, mutual funds and pension plans. All promise a solid understanding of the legal system and they are new and have little of the baggage that lawyers and mediators might carry.
Read More At: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/a-divorce-coach-could-offer-a-calming-perspective/article24919969/