Marriage Straight Talk

Divorce and After

Some marriages end and some only look like they are ending. These pages are for the stay or go stretch: how to tell the difference honestly, what a last real attempt looks like, and how to handle it decently when kids are in the middle.

• How to Save a Marriage When It Feels Like the Last Chance

  The honest version of the last chance page. What to stop doing immediately, what order to do the rest in, and how to tell which emergency you are actually in.

• Avoiding Divorce When the Holidays Hit

  Why family law offices get busy in January, what the season really exposes about a marriage, and how to survive it without an irreversible decision.

• Divorcing With a Baby

  The mediated route versus the adversarial one, what a baby actually picks up, and how two people stay functional as co-parents for the next two decades.

• Leaving a Toxic Marriage With a Child

  The safety line first, then the honest work of finding out whether a marriage you call toxic is actually workable.