Nanci Smith

A new colleague reached out to me the other day with a question: The concept of  Collaborative Divorce has been around for 30 years. Why haven’t more people heard of it? It’s a fair question. Collaborative Divorce isn’t yet a household word, and I think it’s partly because the term itself causes a bit of cognitive dissonance. Those two seemingly opposite ideas sitting so close to each other … [Read more...] about Why Does Collaborative Divorce Seem Like Such a Contradiction

Recent research reveals that couples who have supportive friends and family members are more likely to divorce. No, that last part wasn’t a typo. A study of 7,321 couples published last year in the Journal of Family Issues found that couples who reported having strong emotional support outside their marriage were more likely to split up. “Individuals who feel they can count on emotional … [Read more...] about How to Support Family or Friends Through Their Divorce

Is there such a thing as a “good” divorce? Like a lot of things in life, it depends on how you define it. One couple might decide that “good” means resolved as quickly as possible. Another might prefer the chance to hash out a few key issues with a neutral party. And believe it or not, there are some people who just want to have their day in court. They’re willing to let a judge decide the … [Read more...] about The 4 Ways to Divorce

When it comes to divorce, movies tend to get a lot of things wrong. That’s what was so refreshing about Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach’s film about a couple coming apart at the seams. Everything isn’t exactly as it would happen in real life, but it rings true in a lot of ways. There’s one situation that the movie captured perfectly. Once the couple at the center of the story “lawyer up” to … [Read more...] about Thinking About Divorce as a Collaboration

COVID-19 continues to have us reeling. Are we coming or going? Are we working at home or going back to the office? Is it safe to visit family or is some new variant going to show up, and will we be the next breakthrough case? Are we going to keep fighting with our partners, friends, and neighbors over vaccines?  As the world starts to address the longer-term impact of a global pandemic, … [Read more...] about Your Life After Covid-19: Now Might Be the Time to Create Your Own ‘New Normal’

If we believe the movies that always seem to come out this time of year, the holidays are a time to relax, recharge, and reflect on all the good things that happened over the previous 12 months. We get together with family and friends to exchange gifts, admire our beautifully decorated homes, and enjoy meals that took hours to prepare.  We all know that it isn’t always true. A recent study … [Read more...] about Handling the Stress of the Holidays