Managing your divorce and custody is most likely one of the most difficult tasks in your life. What you want, what you need and what you eventually settle for are, in most cases, three entirely different things. Every divorce is unique and while it is generally best to avoid expensive lawyers, you may not be able to settle out of court, especially if you are in a highly hostile divorce in which one or both parties aren’t willing to compromise.

The obvious conclusion in such a scenario is that you would go to war and fight. You may have a good reason to. But you need to be aware of the consequences of such a decision and you may want to look at some alternatives. Single Parent Gossip has some food for thought.

Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin could be heading into an ugly court battle. Levi Johnston, father of Palin’s grandson is threatening with legal steps to allow him access to his son Tripp. The 19-year old may have made not so helpful headlines as the date of Bristol an almost son-in-law of the Palins, but a public legal fight may be even less desirable for Sarah Palin, especially if Johnston can provide evidence supporting his alienation allegations.

Book Review – Let’s be serious: There is nothing nice about a divorce. It is tough business in most scenarios and if things turn ugly, more than likely you are facing a bitter fight. And if that is the case, you will have to be prepared: Know what to expect and learn how you build a legal strategy. A calm mindset and a good lawyer are two important parts of your plan. But you will also need to educate yourself. A book such as Your Civil War should be on your shopping list.

I admit that I had a special interest in reviewing this book. I am in a pretty nasty divorce myself. It is apparently one of those cases that might drag on for years if there is no miracle breakthrough. I came across this book with a promising sub title indicating that, provided I follow the guidelines given by the author, I will win custody of my children.

Divorce is a time of monumental emotional pain and hardship, a time in which we need support of others to find our way back on track and go on with our life. Yet you can never forget the promise you have given your children when you brought them into this world. You still need to be the best parent you can be and follow some rules to avoid more pain.

One of the most critical ones are phrases you should say to them and things you can think of but definitely can’t say. Here are ten things you should never say to your children during a divorce.

Maybe you’ve heard, but in case you haven’t, there is a relatively new trend in resolving family disputes calledCollaborative Family Law (CFL). Where traditional divorce litigation tends to be adversarial and focused on producing a winner and a loser, Collaborative Law is designed specifically to keep parties out of court and to reach consensus on a fair settlement.

One of the keys to the Collaborative process is that both parties and their attorneys agree not to go to court. In fact, the attorneys agree that if either client does end up deciding to go to court, both attorneys will with withdraw requiring their clients to retain completely new representation. This leaves clients with the option to go to court, if they determine that the process won’t work for them, but it motivates the attorneys to prevent that from happening by working toward an acceptable settlement.

Book Review – The Child Custody Book by Judge James Stewart is the book you are likely to see first when you research the child custody topic in a book store. Its compelling title (including the tagline “How to Protect Your Children and Win Your Case”) may be the reason why it is believed to be the best selling child custody book title in the U.S. This fact was reason enough for me to have a closer look at its content and see what you can expect.

Child custody is a pretty broad topic that is reflected by the book’s 13 chapters that range from the role of attorneys over parenting plans to psychological evaluations, tips how to find a great attorney (and dump that lazy one), how much your custody battle will cost and how you should behave in front of a judge and evaluator. In fact, I do not know any other book that covers more child custody topics.

MrCustodyCoach posted an interesting number about child abductions the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, between 300,000 and 400,000 children are abducted by parents each year. And no, the majority of these “kidnappings” do not happen during the divorce battle.

The writer concludes that the patterns of behavior ”are indicative of the reality that mothers are overwhelmingly the primary or sole custodial parent.” So, what do you do to protect your kid and yourself from parental abductions? MrCustodyCoach has a few simple tips what you can do. A useful read if you believe your former spouse could “kidnap your child”.