When we are flooded with emotions, and dealing with various logistical issues all at once, it is important to keep a to-do list to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. While clients that are separating can count on their attorneys to help them with "big-ticket items" like addressing issues of child support, custody, alimony and property division, there are the "little details" that people should keep track of on their own, especially if they want to keep fees down. Here is a list of some things to work on over time when making a transition into 2 homes:1. Call insurance companies to divide policies, get new rates as an individual;2. Go to DMV to retitle cars, change your address; 3. Personally make the necessary trips to your banks to close the joint accounts;4. Make a list of the household furniture, etc. and identify what you want;5. Update beneficiary forms and wills;6. Change your emergency contact forms;7. Notify lenders, the Post Office and all contacts of your new mailing address;8. Alert the utility companies and mobile phone carriers;9. Inquire into splitting synagogue and country club memberships;10. Get quotes from movers, storage places, track down rental options, etc.Some clients require a lot more hand-holding and want attorneys to follow up with them each step of the way. Others are much more [...]

Growing up with a bunch of over-achievers starting at age 10 in honors classes until I graduated from a top tier law school in DC at age 25 is not normal, but it did provide me with a high level of tolerance for intense, demanding, perfectionistic brainiacs. In my home life these days, I still dig having brainiacs around, but the other traits I can live without. Luckily, I now have several guys in my life (my dad, uncle, 2 brothers and a son), who are all brilliant, yet low key and laid back, and they have taught me to laugh at the uber-planner Wonder Woman wanta-be me that wants to save the world. Admittedly, my childhood was not normal at all. I was an over-scheduled, only child who tried to make up for what I was missing at home by signing up for all sorts of activities, including dance, gymnastics, debate team, editor of the school paper or journal, student government, etc. I focused all my energies on outside activities because unlike everyone else, there was not much of a family at home-- no father, uncles, aunts, cousins, siblings, etc. Without anyone to really ground me, I soared in the outside world-- great schools, internships, athletic opportunities that included summers at the Olympic Training Center and several stints studying [...]

For over a decade, I have seen some of the most brilliant professionals in the DC Area make some of the worst mistakes in their personal lives. I have learned to appreciate that a mathematical genius may have the emotional IQ of a pea-- because love is NOT logical. My brother teases me that lately it seems I am trying to "tick off the right boxes" when I meet someone, but what I have tried to explain to him and others is that when I got married, I completely went with my feelings and did not analyze the situation at all from a clinical perspective. I married my best friend, who was smart, cute and kind-- but he was Ferris Bueller. The things that made me laugh initially, eventually ceased to be funny as we got older, and often he would tell me in the end that I had lost my sense of humor. I lost far more than that in the end, but together we had a child, and so for the rest of our lives, we will be tied together, so that although we no longer live under one roof, we are still a family.My experience with shared custody over the past 6 years helps me with my clients because I understand intimately what their challenges are trying [...]