Surviving Your Split

Book excerpt: Welcome to the club that you never wanted to join. You aren't alone: 94,000 Australians get divorced every year, and this doesn't include de facto relationships, which are just about identical in the eyes of the Family Court. Of all major life events that mess you around, divorce comes in at number two, just behind the death of a spouse. It's a scary, confusing time. But you will get through this. Authors and sisters Rebekah and Lucy Mannering did. Rebekah separated from her first husband four months before Lucy separated from hers. As lawyers who grew up in a family of lawyers, even they felt confronted by their strange new world. Surviving Your Split is the book they wished they'd had. Practical and humorous, it's the sort of guidance you'd get if your best friend was a family lawyer. It's for everyone who needs help to navigate the legal minefield of divorce, and wants some tips on how to get through it with their life relatively intact-and the possibility of creating an even better, happier life at the other side. Surviving Your Split aims to save you money by skilling you up and ensuring the best outcome for you and your family. It is broken into bite-size information including: surviving the first few days telling your children and extended family dealing with the Family Court system negotiating a property settlement and a resource list