If you are lucky, you’ll only have to get divorced once in your life. And since this is likely your first time, you haven’t yet had a chance to learn from your mistakes. In the spirit of making divorce less terrible for everyone, here are the top 10 mistakes to avoid in your divorce.

“I’m so bad with money!” I hear this phrase fall from the lips of my female clients with startling frequency. I hear it even more often when I’m working with a client who is divorcing. Is it really possible that all these women are just naturally “bad with money?

Many divorce cases fail to settle in a timely fashion because of fights over money. How to divide the house, bank accounts, retirement accounts, investing accounts, and so forth can take a good deal of back and forth. One asset some couples try to fight about is Social Security Benefits. But I have good news! Social Security Benefits are one thing you don’t need to address in your divorce settlement. The Federal government already has rules in place for how a divorced person can claim Social Security Benefits, and very little that your soon-to-be-ex-spouse does will affect your benefit.

Most of us have an opinion one way or the other about how health insurance works here in the U.S. Regardless of how you feel about the current system, the fact that insurance coverage is often tied to employment means that a non-working or part-time employed spouse in a divorce proceeding may have some healthcare challenges ahead of them after the divorce. If you are in a divorce proceeding (or considering initiating a divorce) and healthcare is on your mind, this article is for you.

Many a family law client has sat in their lawyer’s office and asked, “Will I get alimony?” (or maybe, “Will I have to pay alimony?”). As with most elements of a divorce case, the answer is, “It depends.” Like with child support, the Texas Family Code specifies factors and limits used to determine what, if any, alimony might be due. In this month’s edition of Graceful Exits, we’ll look at those factors and limits and discuss how you might bolster your case for alimony.

Depending on what side of your divorce case you are on, you may be wondering: “How much will I pay in child support?” or “How much will I get in child support?” These are key questions if you are trying to figure out post-divorce finances, and this is one of the few divorce questions we can answer with some measure of confidence.