White Plains Divorce Law Blog

Even if you wanted to get divorced, you still may feel a bit lonely when your relationship ends and your ex moves out. You may have been married for years or even decades. It's a big change to start living on your own again.

In order to stave off this loneliness, the key is to be proactive. Don't let yourself fall into isolation, which is so easy to do. Spend time with other family members. Seek out friends. These people will be there for you. Be open to that companionship to make the transition easier.

Attitudes toward divorce have shifted in the United States, and it has left some people wondering exactly how to approach the topic.

For instance, one woman who remembers growing up in the 1980s and the 1990s said that at the time, she felt like divorce was something that no one ever talked about openly as it was viewed as something of a taboo. People felt like they had failed in life if they split up, and so they just did not broach the topic.

Impending divorce is not always obvious before it happens. Some couples split up after one unexpected event or because of outside factors, such as a drug addiction problem. However, there are some signs that experts use to predict divorce. They may mean that a marital breakdown is statistically more likely.

Again, these just mean that it could be more likely -- not that it is a guarantee. Even so, it is important to know what to look out for. Some signs include the following:

1. Doubts right before the wedding: People often assume jitters are normal on a big day, but they can actually predict that the marriage won't last.
2. An early marriage: Couples who get married young, especially in their teens, have a harder time keeping the relationship going.
3. A late marriage: At the same time, getting married after age 32 could also mean divorce is more likely.
4. Divorced parents: Those whose parents split up are around 40 percent more likely to end their own marriages than those whose parents stayed married.
5. Serious debt: Money problems end a lot of marriages, especially when one person does most of the spending.
6. Smoking: If both people smoke, it may not matter, but if only one person does, that couple faces higher odds of divorce.
7. Living together first: The chances of divorce go up slightly if the couple lived together before they decided to tie the knot -- though this is a very common practice in modern society.

Divorcing parents will always struggle to find a workable solution to sharing the time they have with their children. In some cases, the best way to work out a parenting plan is to share the children 50-50. This usually involves the children living half the time with one parent and the remaining time with the other. Parents might divide their kids every other week, every two weeks or split the week right down the middle. Ultimately, it's best that the plan works to provide each parent with equal weekend time to enjoy with the kids.

As for whom the 50-50 plan works best, parents who answer "yes" to the following might benefit from the 50-50 plan:

• The parents live close enough to one another to make exchanges convenient.
• The parents can communicate and make decisions without constantly fighting.
• The child is mentally and emotionally capable of living in two different homes.
• Both parents have a commitment to the best interests of the child or children.
• Both parents are on board with the idea of a 50-50 plan.