Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce [Paperback]

Emily Doskow Attorney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 2006

The most practical -- and legal -- companion through divorce ever published. Like most people who are going through a separation or divorce, you're probably wondering "What's next?" at every turn. So turn to Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce for clear answers that can help make your divorce as simple and inexpensive as humanly possible. With compassion and understanding, Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce will help you understand the divorce process, work with mediators or lawyers, avoid expensive and painful court battles, figure out alimony, establish child custody and visitation, determine child support, divide money and property fairly, draft a marital settlement agreement, deal with divorce emergencies, address post-divorce issues, find helpful resources and much more. On every page, this book stresses the importance of minimizing conflict, explains complex legal problems concisely, and provides advice on how to protect your interests. Plus, easy-to-use charts make it easy to find the divorce laws of your state. Plenty of books out there claim to cover divorce thoroughly, but only Nolo has the reputation of consistently delivering clear legal expertise and invaluable insights. Trust Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce to help you through every step.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An invaluable resource for anyone in need of good, commonsense advice about how to get through a divorce." -- Attorney Andrea Palash, certified family law specialist

"In this well organized and easy toread book, readers can find succinct, practical answers toall the tough questions about divorce." -- Attorney Katherine E. Stoner, author of Divorce Without Court

About the Author

Doskow is a practicing attorney and mediator who has worked with families in the Bay Area for more than 15 years. She specializes in family law, including adoption, parentage issues, domestic partnership formation and dissolution, and divorce. She is a graduate of the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: NOLO; 1 edition (September 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413304524
• ISBN-13: 978-1413304527
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #570,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Emily Doskow is a practicing attorney and mediator who has worked with families in the Bay Area since 1989. She is the author of Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce, the co-author of Making It Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic Partnership & Civil Unions and The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life & Build Community, and the editor of many Nolo titles, including Divorce Without Court: A Guide to Mediation and Collaborative Divorce and the bestselling Neighbor Law: Fences, Trees Boundaries & Noise. She specializes in family law, including adoption, parentage issues, domestic partnership formation and dissolution, and divorce. She is a graduate of the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley.
Emily blogs on the ever-changing laws that affect gays and lesbians at Queer Justice: Nolo's LGBT Law Blog. She also blogs on marriage, adoption, parenting, divorce, child custody and child support at Nolo's Divorce, Custody & Family Law Blog, and on practical tips for sharing everything from lawnmowers and land to time and information at The Sharing Solution.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get this book before you hire a lawyer or make any concrete plans for your divorce, April 5, 2007

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce (Paperback)

The Nolo Press is a 35-year leader in self-help legal books. Anyone facing a divorce needs to obtain a copy of this reference guide immediately, regardless of whether the divorce will be amicable, grudingly co-operative, or combative. This book will take you through the legal process of divorce as well discussing the social, emotional, and financial processes. It is a thorough guide in plain language and you'll want to keep a highlighter and some post-it flags handy for marking relevant passages.

Nolo recommends mediation before litigation if at all possible, to save money and effort. The authors remind the reader that lawyers do not have the consumer's best interest at heart--their first priority is to protect themselves from malpractice lawsuits, and so they will be as thorough (and costly) as possible to meet that need. If both spouses read this book, it can provide an important wake-up call about saving as much money as possible for themselves and their children by pursuing divorce through mediation and co-operation. If your spouse is antagonistic, this book will tell you how to ensure that your best interests are covered when you hire a lawyer, and how to make the legal process work as smoothly as possible.

If you live in California and are fortunate enough to have an uncontested divorce, you can save thousands of dollars in legal fees by using the Nolo book and CD-ROM How to Do Your Own Divorce in California.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book for a difficult situation, October 4, 2006

By 

Amicable (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce (Paperback)

While going through a divorce can be difficult, this book shows that there are real, concrete ways to make it less so. The book is well organized. Written in plain English, it's also easy to understand. It offers good tips and links to other valuable resources. The book provides important guidelines for managing finances, preparing and filing legal papers, dividing property and more. The author continually stresses the importance of taking the high road, which helps keep the flame low on a potentially volatile situation. When both parties are in respectful relationship to each other, she writes, it helps ease the process and make for a smoother transition after the divorce, which is especially important when there are children to consider.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Public libraries in particular must have this., December 11, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce (Paperback)

Anyone faced with divorce needs to run, not walk, to Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce, an updated legal resource which covers everything from the process and working with mediators and lawyers to how alimony, child support, and division of money and property are calculated. Also learn how to avoid court battles and draft a marital settlement agreement on your own - and learn common post-divorce issues which threaten such arrangements - in a guide written by an attorney-mediator in private practice who surveys everything from religion to property division laws. Public libraries in particular must have this.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch