She's Gone.

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Now What?

If you're feeling overwhelmed right now, that's understandable.

Fortunately, there is a way to move forward with more confidence and less fear.

The key is understanding your options before making important decisions.

That's exactly why I created DIVORCE SMARTER.

The best 60-second-a-day investment you can make in your N.J. divorce case.

MAYBE YOU SAW IT COMING.

Maybe you didn't.

Either way, your life has surely changed.

Perhaps you had been focused on work, paying bills, taking care of your family, and living your life.

And now you're lying awake at night wondering what happens next?

Will you have enough money to start over?

Will you see your children as often as you want?

Will you have to sell your home?

Friends And Family Mean Well

But everyone has a different opinion of what your next move should be.

One person tells you to fight like hell.

Another tells you that fighting IS hell, and you should settle quickly.

With all of this conflicting advice, your stress level is pretty high.

A WAY TO REDUCE THE STRESS

A reliable way to reduce the stress would probably be useful right now.

Because the decisions that you make in the near future may affect your children, your finances, and therefore your quality of life in general for years to come.

Yet the problem is that nobody has ever taught you what you need to know to be able to DIVORCE SMARTER.

Wouldn't it be helpful to learn how divorce really works in New Jersey?

So that you can make decisions that are consistent with your values and your best interests?

That's exactly why I created DIVORCE SMARTER .

"DIVORCE SMARTER" helps you make better divorce-related decisions.

DIVORCE SMARTER is a free series of short, easy-to-read lessons designed to help you better understand everything about the New Jersey divorce process before you start making important decisions.

What You'll Learn

Some of the lessons answer questions that people ask at the very beginning of a divorce.

Questions like:

"Should I move out?"

"What should I be doing right now?"

"What mistakes do people commonly make when negotiating parenting-time arrangements?"

"Which divorce battles are worth fighting, and which ones usually aren't?"

You'll learn how to make better divorce-related decisions.

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID

"Steve is a fantastic, deeply experienced attorney.

If you want a cutthroat attorney, he's not that guy—and that’s a good thing.

He’s logical, professional, and has the best advice for difficult situations."

J.F. (2018)

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Why I Created Divorce Smarter

A strange coincidence early in my legal career gave me two very different perspectives on divorce at exactly the same time.

While a judge was teaching me how divorce is supposed to work, a divorced family was teaching me how often it, well, just doesn't work as well as it could ... .

That 2-part experience changed the way I view divorce, the way I advise my clients, and ultimately the way that I practice law.

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Real Life Was Different Than Divorce Theory

In 1986, I began my legal career as a law clerk to a respected New Jersey Family Court judge.

During the week, I learned how divorce is supposed to work.

I learned the law.

I learned the rules.

I learned how judges decide what is fair.

At the very same time, however, I was spending weekends with my future wife and her young children, watching the real-world effects of a divorce that had already SUPPOSEDLY been resolved years earlier.

As a result, I was learning about divorce from two very different perspectives-- at exactly the same time.

One experience taught me how divorce laws are supposed to work.

The other taught me how divorce laws sometimes do not work as intended once families leave the courtroom and return to real life.

This Changed My Thinking About Divorce

Something that has stayed with me for nearly four decades:

I SAW THAT THE DIVORCE SYSTEM IS BROKEN.

That realization changed the way I viewed divorce.

It also changed the advice I gave my clients significantly.

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MY PROMISE TO YOU

For nearly four decades, I have helped my clients navigate divorce using BOTH the knowledge from my time working for the Court & my knowledge from my experiences living with a divorced family.

The goal of DIVORCE SMARTER is to help people make better decisions by understanding the process before they act.

Because I've learned that better-informed people usually make better divorce-related decisions.

And better divorce decisions often lead to better divorce outcomes.

And after all...isn't that the goal?

To stop lying awake at night...

To firmly DECIDE what happens next...

To figure out a way to have enough money for what you really need to start over...

To be certain that you will be with your children often...

To have an equal voice into whether you have to sell your home...

To be able to tell which advice given by friends and family makes sense to you and which does not...

And to effectively manage the endless stress that right now might be hard to manage, so that life becomes better.