Collaborative Law Institute Blog – Family Law Attorneys & Professionals
Why I Became a Certified Divorce Real Estate Expert
People sometimes assume I got into divorce real estate because I went through one myself. I didn’t — at least not directly. But after more than 22 years as a traditional Realtor®, I’ve watched enough home sales get tangled up in divorce to know it stays...
The Losing Strategies: Why We All End Up Part of the Problem
In my last post, on June 10, The Good News About Being Part of the Problem, I wrote about the power of seeing your own contribution to what’s going wrong in your marriage. That’s the first move. But it stays abstract until you know what you’re actually looking for. In...
Adjusting the Tension
…easier said than done. The tension to which I refer is the tension inherent in maintaining a balance between keeping our children secure, making sure they have a safety net while simultaneously maintaining enough distance that we are able to accommodate their...
5 Financial Decisions in Gray Divorce You Can’t Take Back
Divorce after 50 involves a different set of financial stakes than divorce earlier in life. There’s less runway to rebuild retirement savings, more complexity in how assets have grown over decades, and often a spouse who has been out of the workforce far longer...
What Will That Low Interest Rate Mortgage Really Cost You?
One of the biggest mistakes we see during a divorce is trying to protect a low interest rate at all costs. At first, it sounds like the obvious choice. But let’s see what it really costs. The Situation In 2020, you purchased a home with a $350,000 mortgage on a...
Feel Stuck During Divorce? How Divorce Coaching Can Help Collaborative Divorce
Collaborative Divorce is intended to help families resolve conflict and move forward without the emotional and financial cost of litigation. Attorneys, financial professionals, and mental health neutrals all have vital roles in helping clients. However, if...
Independence Day
July in Minnesota is the best! The craziness of June slows a bit, and the summer, as we think of it here in the Midwest, kicks in to high-gear: it’s hot and humid, you have to constantly weed your garden, and the #1 thing to talk about is…the forecast, whether it’s...
(RE)LEARNING THE SEVEN POWERS OF PLAY – PART 3
In Part 1, we discussed how children seem to know how to play, yet they develop important skills through play. In Part 2, we identified and explored the seven skills children develop through play. As a refresher, those skills are: Creative thinking – to consider and...
Navigating the House During Divorce in Today’s Higher Interest Rate Environment – The Impact of Rising Mortgage Rates
In January of 2022, mortgage interest rates began their sharpest increase since the early 1980s. While this has not only increased the monthly cost of a mortgage payment for the same loan amount, the severity of the increase has had a lock-in effect for people with...
The Good News About Being Part of the Problem
I hear some version of this almost every week: “I’ve tried everything. Nothing works. I don’t think it even matters.” The person sitting across from me is genuinely exhausted. Not “we had a rough month” exhausted. I mean battle-worn, hope-thinning,...
