Excerpts from: Your Divorce Advisor

by Diana Mercer and Marsha Kline Pruett (Simon and Schuster, 2001).

The book may be purchased at most bookstores or on-line. Indented paragraphs are quotes from the book.

Italics (not indented) point to other parts of the book relevant to the quotes.

Contested Custody Cases: Hazardous Territory

p. 236, discusses the problems associated with a custody trial such as detailed criticisms of each parent. After discussing the difficulties associated with the custody trial itself, the book says:

p. 236. After the trial, after listening to all the testimony, win or lose, you have to continue to operate as a family. You will have to attend your children’s bar mitzvahs, First Communions, school plays, soccer games and even their weddings… a whole lifetime of activities in which your children need both you and your spouse to participate. Maintaining a civil relationship will be very difficult after a contested custody trial.