Divorce Tool Box aims to help divorcing couples resolve their conflicts before extended, highly-emotional legal battles can inflict such stress that violence and abuse result —which is known to involve spouses, ex-spouses, and their children. Incidents in Pittsburgh and Fort Lauderdale of violent attacks during or after divorce hearings, and a national study on child abuse and neglect demonstrate the serious repercussions from unresolved emotions during and after high-conflict divorces. In Hendersonville, TN, a recent case that could be precedent-setting took a couple four years to finally resolve, providing additional evidence of the value of pre-divorce coaching and education.
Divorce Tool Box online sessions provide an alternative to prolonged, high-conflict divorces that are known to create even more stress than is inevitably to be expected during such a life-altering event as divorce. Avoiding the heat—and expense--of legal battles involving alimony, child custody, visitation, and child support issues is the goal of Audrey Silcox, a Certified Divorce and Family Mediator, who founded Divorce Tool Box, a division of Sildrey Corporation.
“A case in Hendersonville, Tennessee that concluded just days ago, didn’t involve violence, as some other headline cases in recent months,” says Silcox. “But when I read about this possibly precedent-setting divorce settlement in Tennessee, and that the couple had been battling over an earlier court ruling forfour years,” says Silcox, “I felt strongly that working with a divorce coach and/or mediator longbeforethey both got so financially--and emotionally--invested in winning, could have helped enormously, sparing them each much time and expense, not to mention stress.”
The issue was Craig Gonsewski’s effort to overturn a Tennessee Court of Appeals ruling that had ordered him to pay $15,000 a year in alimony to his ex-wife for the rest of her life, or until she remarried. On September 20th, the state Supreme Court overturned that decision, citing that Johanna Gonsewski is healthy and earns about $72,000 a year.
Silcox continued, “Legal fees and court costs—for each of them over these four years—surely must have exceeded $15,000. But after 16 years of working with divorcing couples, including as a court-appointed mediator, I’ve seen first-hand how important it is to help resolve these divorce conflicts before they become so costly in every way.”
Silcox recalled news earlier this month from the Family Law Center in downtown Pittsburgh, as reported in thePittsburgh Post-Gazette, where a man and woman involved in a child-custody case were arrested after their domestic dispute escalated into a full-scale confrontation involving sheriff’s deputies, two of whom suffered minor injuries. And in April, bond was set at $1 million for an ex-Marine, 28-year-old Paul Henry Gonzalez Jr., for allegedly beating his wife in a judge’s chambers after he was angry about having to pay child support and was angry with Judge Ronald Rothschild’s visitation ruling.
“NBC Miami reported authorities saying that the man grabbed his estranged wife around the neck and repeatedly punched her in the side of the head after the court proceedings,” noted Silcox. “This is stress taken to the extreme, and again, I can’t help but feel that preliminary divorce online sessions could have greatly defused the volatility of this situation before it got so out of hand.”
Silcox provides divorce online sessions anywhere, at any time, and in the comfort and privacy of one's home. The online program can be completed at one's own pace and schedule. The sessions help to create a customized divorce plan pertaining to one's particular individual’s, couple’s, or family’s needs. This can help resolve issues before costly legal meetings and processes begin.
“It’s widely known that children also endure stress when their parent’s divorce,” Silcox added, “but it was documented in the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, that of the more than 1.25 million children experiencing maltreatment during the study—that’s one child in 58--family structure was a great predictor. For children living with a single parent, abuse increased by 22% and neglect increased by 36%. At the same time, these rates decreased for children living with both parents, by 42% and 33% respectively. I envision the day when divorce coaching is such a standard practice prior to entering the legal arena, that resolving conflicts in advance pertaining to child custody, child support, and visitation rights will so greatly reduce the stress of divorced parents that their children will suffer less stress, abuse, and neglect, as well. That is my goal.”
Divorce Tool Box online sessions are designed for individuals or couples contemplating or currently undergoing divorce. Custody parenting plans, assets and liabilities, division of property and money matters including child support, along with emotional support are some of the issues addressed in customized, confidential, and convenient online 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. Get started today by visiting our website at www.DivorceToolBox.com .