A recent report from the U. S. Census Bureau, based on data from the report, "Marital Events of Americans: 2009," found that children of divorce are more likely to live in poverty. As incomes are necessarily divided, available financial resources are often reduced while household expenses, including the costs of raising children, are often reduced accordingly, to detrimental effect. "As innocent emotional and financial victims of divorce, children are the ones most affected when a marriage dissolves," says Audrey Silcox, a Certified Divorce and Family Mediator. After 16 years of working with divorcing couples, including as a court-appointed mediator, she recently founded Divorce Tool Box, a division of Sildrey Corporation, to make her expertise available via telephone divorce coaching to clients anytime, anywhere.
A divorced mother of two, with degrees in psychology and counseling from Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama, she learned first-hand how important it is to make wise child custody decisions at the outset of a divorce, and also to anticipate other decisions that will greatly affect children and parents for years to come. "Children have financial needs when divorce occurs, and often greater financial needs as they mature," says Silcox.
"Guidance with an expert to assist parents as they contemplate divorce is a must in order to effectively-and comprehensively-- consider how a child's everyday and future financial needs will be adequately met," she continues. "Working through these issues in advance of entering the legal arena can save couples many hours in legal fees, not to mention the distress of living with regrettable decisions far into the future." Initial contact with potential clients is made either by phone or online. Silcox then follows up with a phone call to schedule a free half-hour phone session to explore how customized divorce coaching can meet individual and family needs. Subsequent 45-minute telephone sessions are $119.99, considerably less than the average hourly legal fee.
Silcox adds, "Divorce is stressful and draining for couples, and no matter what the ages of their children, I've seen what a difference it makes when parents take the needed time with expert insight to reduce the current and future stress that divorce brings to those children. A customized parenting plan is essential to meet not only children's every day financial needs, but also the simple pleasures in children's present and future extracurricular activities. Children can greatly benefit from this prior planning when one or both of their parents have taken these and other considerations into account when making life-altering decisions during a divorce."
Divorce Tool Box is a new program providing telephone coaching by an experienced professional for individuals or couples contemplating or currently undergoing divorce. Custody parenting plans, assets and liabilities, division of property and money matters, along with emotional support are some of the issues addressed in customized, confidential, and convenient phone sessions to help people make wise decisions before entering the legal arena. This guidance can help ease a difficult process as well as save countless hours and costs in legal fees.