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Helpful Divorce Books

Below, you will find some of the best books on divorce for women, from making the decision and working through the legal issues, to helping your children cope and starting over.

Deciding on Divorce

Should You Stay or Should You Go?
Considering Leaving Your Relationship? Want to make sure you're making the right decision? Discover a powerful new process that will help you decide what's right for you.

Thinking Divorce? Think Again
Should you get a divorce? Only you can answer that question, but this book will help you make an informed decision. Written by divorce attorney Lorie Fowlke, this book highlights the realities of divorce and it's aftermath so that you can proceed with a real understanding of how divorce affects all areas of your life.

 

Preparing for Divorce:

Divorce 101: A Woman's Guide To Divorce
Get the facts about divorce before it's too late. Comprehensive information to help you navigate the issues of your divorce and control the outcome.

The Divorce Organizer and Planner
Brette McWhorter Sember, a retired divorce attorney and mediator, helps guide you through the divorce process, giving you the tools to help you create a complete, accessible record of everything you will need to prepare for divorce, as well track alimony child support, and more after the divorce.

Divorce and Money
Emphasizing the difference between legal reality and financial reality, this guide shows how to evaluate assets--including houses, businesses, retirement plans, and investments--during divorce.

No-Fight Divorce
End your marriage on your own terms and without the cost and heartache of a traditional divorce. This book reveals the advantages of using mediation during your divorce to save time and money while keeping the whole divorce process less combative. Learn how mediation works and if this is a method you should pursue to negotiate the division of assets and debts, child custody and support, and other issues relevant to your divorce. Brette goes into detail on how to find the best mediator for your case, how to overcome difficulties in the mediation process, worksheets and checklists to keep everything organized, as well as information on how to review your final settlement, and what you need to do to make the settlement legal.

The Complete Guide to Protecting Your Financial Security When Getting a Divorce
Every woman needs to understand the financial aspects of divorce before signing the final decree.  Learn about the pitfalls to avoid, review various settlement scenarios and solutions, and understand how to negotiate a money-wise settlement.

Make Any Divorce Better!
Get specific steps to make your divorce smoother, faster, less painful, and save yourself a lot of money in the process.  Also include with this book is a CD containing worksheets to help you determine assets and debts, work out a parenting agreement, child support guidelines and enforcement, and more.

Divorce Preparation Manuals - This is another section that includes specific guides on divorce, custody, support, alimony, separation, and property division.

Children and Divorce:

Joint Custody With A Jerk
Learn how to deal with a difficult ex-husband who makes joint custody hard to handle.  From learning about the common problems of parenting with an uncooperative spouse, to finding solutions to effectively communicate with your ex, this is a good read for anyone who feels that their custody situation is out of hand.

A Family's Heartbreak: A Parent's Introduction to Parental Alienation
This book takes you into the everyday life and challenges of an alienated parent, giving you a heartbreaking look into what can happen when one parent manipulates and turns a child against the other parent. It's not pretty, but the author points out the pitfalls and the legal difficulties that an alienated parent often faces. You can read my full review on Amazon, but this is definitely a book to check out if you find that your ex is purposely turning your child against you.

How to Parent with Your Ex
After the dust has settled from your divorce, you're still faced with the fact that you have to co-parent with your ex. Learn how to let go of the anger and resentment and make the best of your visitation and your parenting arrangement so your children don't have to suffer from ongoing conflict. This book also discusses children's reactions by age and what you can expect as they get older. I like that there is a discussion on rules and how to handle them at each parent's house, as well as effective ways to communicate with your ex.

The Child Custody Book
If you are facing a child custody battle, this is the book to read. This guide outlines the process of how the court decides custody and what you can expect at each stage in the litigation process. Written by a judge, with additional input from a child custody evaluator and as well as a trained psychologist, this book highlights how you can present your case so that you stand the best chance of retaining custody. It goes over how to conduct yourself during a custody evaluation, how to choose the best attorney for your case, how abuse and issues of alienation can factor into the custody decision, and more.

What Every Woman Should Know About Divorce and Custody
This revised edition focuses mainly on custody issues, but also discusses a wide range of legal strategies, as well as financial and psychological issues. Learn what to expect in court and the risk factors that women face, as well as sound advice on how to deal with the challenges of divorce.

The Co-Parenting Survival Guide: Letting Go of Conflict after a Difficult Divorce.
If you have been through a high-conflict divorce, this book can help you navigate the difficult co-parenting issues that you will face afterwards. Learn how to get past the hostility and constant bickering with your ex so that you can truly focus on what's best for your children. You'll learn new strategies for communicating with your ex, how to handle transition and discipline difficulties, dealing with step-parents, as well as how to manage the special occasions in your children's lives.

Helping Children Cope With Divorce:

Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce
"Of all the how-to advice about divorce on the market, the best is probably wrapped up in " Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce the Sandcastles Way". It's sympathetic, practical and loving; it covers all the problems faced by children of divorce; and it gives an excellent rundown of the reactions you can expect, age by age." -- The Washington Post

My Stick Family is an excellent book that captures the essence of children's feeling about divorce, putting into words the emotions that children experience during this turbulent time.

It's Not Your Fault, Koko Bear
Even though this book has been around for a while, this is still a great resource to help children come to grips with their parent's divorce. The main focus of the book is to help children understand that they didn't cause the divorce. With beautiful graphics, children can relate to the pictures of Koko Bear and what he is feeling, helping them realize that their emotions are normal and giving them permission to verbalize what they are feeling. The book also has sections at the bottom that describes what most children experience when their parents' divorce, giving suggestions on how to approach different situations and the right messages to convey about the whole situation.

Taking the "Duh" Out of Divorce is a video that your children will enjoy watching.  Following the cartoon adventure of Skye and Jack, kids can see that what they are experiencing is normal and that divorce is not the end of the world.  I recommend it to help your children cope with the emotions of divorce.

I Can't Want To
" I Can't Want To" by Michelle Shillings is a wonderful book that young children of divorce and separation can relate to. Inspired by her young son's frustrations over having two homes, Michelle is able to put into words the feelings young children experience over visitation and the changes that go along with it. Children will be comforted by the simple message that it's okay to be upset when Mommy and Daddy don't live together anymore. And adults will appreciate the opportunity to talk with their children about how they feel about their situation. The illustrations by Brenda Lovejoy are adorable and will engage youngsters as well as the adults reading to them. Definitely a "keeper". Review by Tracy Achen from WomansDivorce.com

Starting Over:

95 Transformational Tips For Letting Go and Moving On After Your Divorce
Divorce Recovery Life Coach, Speaker and Author, Shelley Stile has created a step-by-step guide to move you through the emotional upheaval of divorce. These powerful, succinct tips will guide you to let go of the pain of your divorce and reclaim your enthusiasm and optimism for life. They provide a common sense direction for healing and creating a new life after divorce. A tip read and absorbed everyday for three months will find you back in control and ready to embrace your new life. Stile leads you to a full acceptance of this new reality minus the destructive negative emotions associated with divorce. Having gone through her own divorce and working with men and women trying to put their lives back together, Shelley has amassed deep wisdom that she imparts to you via her 95 tips.

Leaving Him Behind: Cutting the Cord and Breaking Free After the Marriage Ends
Learn how to move on after your divorce, put your life back together, and become the woman you were meant to be.

Rebuilding: When Your Relationship Ends...
This book will help you work through all the swirling emotions that go along with getting a divorce. It tackles the tough issues that women often don't talk about (even with their friends), and helps you move past all the garbage. And it doesn't stop there. It also walks you through transitioning into your new life by helping you develop worthwhile goals that resound with the real you.

Single Again: A Guide for Women Starting Over
For help in getting through the devastation of losing a husband, making order out of chaos, adapting to your changed life, and carving out your independent identify, this is a great book to help you get started.  It's full of practical tips for women who find themselves single after many years of marriage, with inspiring stories of other women who've been in your shoes.

The Journey from Abandonment to Healing: Turn the End of a Relationship into the Beginning of a New Life
Readers have found this book very helpful with working through the emotions that go along with divorce.  The book discusses the five stages of abandonment, exercises for managing the pain and rediscovering the capacity for love, plus it provides a complete program for abandonment recovery.

Wife Goes On
This is a deliciously fun and realistic look at starting over and new beginnings. From the uncertainty of being single again, to the everyday demands of single-motherhood, this book touches on so many of the realities of being a divorced woman. With disappointments and hope, heartbreak and laughter, you'll quickly identify with the heroines and rejoice as each learns how to live their life on their own terms. Read the full review...

The Courage To Be a Single Mother - Written by someone who's been there and done that, this book offers a realistic look at life after divorce as a single mother,  helping you deal with the emotional aspects that go along with the territory, and moving from survival mode to really living again.

The Unofficial Guide to Dating Again...
This guide goes beyond teenagers and singles who have never married, explaining the range of dating options available today and provides practical tools that help readers assess their needs, research their options, and make decisions accordingly.

The Breakup Diary
This is a good resource to help you put your feelings about your ex into perspective and begin to heal the wounds to your heart. It is a self-directed journal that has exercises to help you pinpoint specific problems in the relationship and come to terms with the issues. I found it very helpful in the breakup of my long-term relationship.

Daisy Dooley Does Divorce (Fiction)
This was a book that I could identify with. I too am a forty something divorcee with a lot of the same hang-ups. Daisy's misadventures in her quest to find the perfect mate post-divorce highlight what many of us in the single scene go through. I could relate to her obsession with self-help books, and laugh at her portrayal of real family life (which was way out there, just like most of ours). Although it was a witty and fun read, it was also down to earth and exposed the reality of the dating scene today. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to all newly divorced women to help them realize that they are not alone. Contributed by WomansDivorce.com staff contributor Laurie Kennedy.

GET OVER IT!!!: A DOWN TO EARTH LOOK AT THE ISSUES OF CHRISTIAN DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE
This is a labor of love that gives insight into the issues and emotions people face as divorced children of god. By addressing your hurts and fears, feelings of rejection, anger, bitterness, and low self esteem, you can begin to move on.  Read the full review of Get Over It...

Understanding Men

Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men
Understand what is going on when the one you love comes to dominate your life. This is a very thorough guide on the mind set of controlling men that can help you understand why he does what he does.

The Verbally Abusive Relationship: How to Recognize it and How to Respond
If you're struggling with a controlling husband and feel that nothing you do is right, then this book is for you.  In this book you'll find validation about what you're feeling, understanding about your situation, and encouragement to change the situation. Do yourself a favor and read this book so that you can understand your situation.

How To Survive Your Boyfriends Divorce
If you are the "girlfriend" of a married man in the middle of a divorce, you need to read this book. It's a quick and easy read, revealing what your choices and options are in this type of relationship. This book has been around for a while, but the information is still valid.

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