Blog
Barney Connaughton on divorce and mediation: custody, support, property, and how the process works.
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Divorce Without Destruction: My Conversation on The Personal Side of Business
I joined The Personal Side of Business to talk about mediating a divorce instead of litigating it: the cost, the children, and repairing how two people talk.
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Life Balance, Goal Setting and Divorce
Here we are once again in that week of time between Christmas and New Year’s where we are closing out 2024 and preparing ourselves for what 2025 has in store for us. I use this time to see how I did with accomplishing my 2024 goals and then move to setting my new goals for […]
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Airing Grievances, Mediation and Divorce
I have always counted privacy as one of the great benefits of Divorce mediation. With a litigated divorce each party prepares declarations that get filed with the Court, taking the skeletons out of the closet, airing the dirty laundry and pointing out each other’s flaws and mistakes for all the world to see. On the […]
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Communication, Misunderstandings and Divorce
There are not many things more frustrating than misunderstandings and the subsequent breakdown of communication, especially with a person that you have a need to continue to engage with . I am in the midst of one such breakdown and my failure to find a way to resolve any misunderstanding between us and reestablish clear […]
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Budgeting and Divorce
There is a lot of financial upheaval that happens as couples navigate their divorce and move into the new reality that is to follow. The financial situation gets much more complicated because now there are two homes to run and usually no additional resources to manage the added costs. Often financial problems are part of […]
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Thanksgiving, Traditions and Divorce
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite celebration days. In saying so it has nothing to do with the historical significance of the holiday as I understand that indigenous people see it as a reminder of a grave injustice. I acknowledge that. For me, Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks for the blessings and gifts […]
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The Norby’s, Kind Hearted Professionals and Divorce
It has become one of my life’s strivings to try to save as many families as possible from a litigated divorce. If you have followed my blog at all you will have gathered that it is my perspective that most couples shouldn’t need a Judge to step in and tell them how to handle the […]
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World Kindness Week and Divorce
Happy World Kindness Week to you all! November 9th through the 16th is Worldwide Kindness Week with World Kindness Day falling on November 13th. It is a global observance dedicated to promoting and celebrating acts of kindness. It is intended as a reminder of the positive impact that kindness can have on us all, our […]
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Impasse, Mediation and Divorce
During a recent consultation, one of the spouses asked if I had any experience dealing with impasse, and if so, what were my strategies for getting cases past the deadlock to a place of settlement. That is a pretty big and telling question, at least the second part of it. My first thought was “well, […]
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Untangling Together Workbook.
Untangling Together: A Healthy Divorce Guide and Workbook, California Edition. What is in the book, and who it was written to help.
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Shooting too high, too low, Goldilocks and Divorce.
I had a consultation this week with a spouse who was beginning to gather information for possibly proceeding with a divorce. I gave her information about mediation to share with the absent spouse in the event she could persuade him to consider the mediation option. During our meeting she expressed interest in getting some legal […]
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Resetting the Narrative and Divorce
I recently completed a mediation with a couple whom I had originally met with for a consultation over a year ago. At that time they ended up choosing a different path and had each hired their own attorney to handle the divorce. After a year of litigation they both became frustrated with the slow pace […]