A former family court judge who ruled on over 5,000 custody cases sits down to talk about the side of divorce nobody prepares you for — because she lived it first, as the kid in the middle of her own parents' split. Michele Locke spent decades on the bench before returning to private practice to fight the hardest custody and alienation cases in Texas. In this episode: what parents get wrong after divorce, the real mistakes dads make in and out of the courtroom, the new danger AI poses to your case, and what she tells good dads who are scared they've already lost their kids for good.

In this episode:

• Michele's own story as a child of divorce and what it taught her about what not to do
• The most common mistakes dads make in custody cases, with a lawyer and without one
• Her BIFF communication framework, in plain language with real examples
• How AI can be used against you in a divorce case — and how it can be used to fake evidence against you
• What she tells good dads who are afraid they've already lost their kids

Find Michele Locke:

• Website: https://www.michelelocke.com/
• Podcast: lovelustlaw — https://www.michelelocke.com/podcast
• Blog: "The Lockedown" — via michelelocke.com
• Instagram / LinkedIn: @attorneymichelelocke

Standard CTA links:

• 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0f
• Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97
• Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

My sixteen-year-old dropped a car off at a shop by himself last week, and something about watching him handle it broke something open in me. Patrick Bet-David said the line that's been going around — this episode is what it actually means to train a kid on purpose, knowing the whole point is that he leaves.
In this episode:

• Why watching your kid succeed without you is supposed to sting — Peter Blos's research on adolescent "individuation"
• What the still-maturing teenage prefrontal cortex means for how long your job as a dad actually lasts
• Diana Baumrind's parenting-styles research and the difference between training and control
• The Stoic "dichotomy of control" and what it means for fatherhood specifically
• The Loose Grip framework — four moves for training hard without gripping outcomes you never owned
• Bowlby and Ainsworth's "secure base" research — why your calm makes his independence possible
• Proverbs 22:6 and Hebrews 12:11 on what training is actually supposed to feel like

Apply for 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0f
Join the free Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97
Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

Eleven years ago, Garry Junkuhn's girlfriend moved in with him — and that day became the last time he saw his two sons for three years. He found out how bad things had gotten from a school notification: his son had legally changed his last name to his mother's. Founder of 100K Fathers, Garry has since guided thousands of estranged dads through the same reunification process that eventually brought both of his own sons back — built on patience and inner work, not lawyers or court orders. In this episode: the Instagram message from his son that ended three years of silence, why fighting for access through the courts usually backfires, and the practical, day-to-day moves that actually draw an estranged child back.

In this episode:

• Garry's own three-year estrangement from his two sons, and the school notification that changed everything
• The Instagram message from his son that ended the silence — and what he did next
• Why the "fight for access" instinct backfires, and the counterintuitive alternative that worked for him and thousands of the fathers he's since coached
• Practical rules on text frequency, showing up unannounced, and working around a hostile co-parent
• The "silver bullets" — false allegations, protection orders — he sees in roughly 40% of the fathers he's worked with once they push legally
• How to know you're actually ready to reconnect, versus just desperate to
• Real reunification stories, including a father who hadn't seen his kids in 5 and 7 years

Find Garry Junkuhn / 100K Fathers:

• Website: https://www.100k-fathers.com/
• Note: he said directly on the recording that he hasn't built out Instagram/YouTube much yet — the website (and booking a call from it) is the real destination, don't oversell social links you can't back up.

Standard CTA links:

• 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0f
• Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97
• Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

I waited years to tell anyone about a habit that was quietly running my life — and it didn't die until I did. This episode is about the pattern I now see in dad after dad who reaches out: crisis, relief, silence, and a worse crisis later. What's actually happening underneath it, and the exact process that breaks it before it gets 10x harder.
In this episode:

• Why the urge to hide something is actually the clearest evidence of where your real problem lives
• Kahneman and Tversky's research on why pain — not opportunity — is what actually moves most men to act
• James Prochaska's stages-of-change research and the exact point where people mistake feeling better for being done
• Julian Rotter's locus-of-control research and why gripping outcomes you never controlled burns you out
• Pierre Azoulay's Harvard Business School research on founder age — why real success takes far longer than it looks from outside
• The Chop Wood, Carry Water framework — four moves for exposing what you're hiding before it gets 10x harder
• Sheldon Cohen's research on social support and why accountability is a measurable stress buffer, not just a feeling
• Angela Duckworth's grit research and what it actually predicts about who sustains change
• Albert Bandura's Bobo doll studies — what your kids are actually learning by watching you
• Galatians 6:9 — the timeline promise behind doing the hard thing anyway

Apply for 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0f
Join the free Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97
Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

This week on Sunday Table, the Sunday faith segment from Divorced Dads of America, Anthony Thompson asks a simple but exposing question: what does seeking God actually look like for you — compared to what seeking money looks like? Anthony walks through his own list of moments God came through for him, from landing a job at the #1 PR firm in LA to building a six-figure business in Australia by seeking the Lord every morning, and challenges dads to build their own list before they forget what God has already done.

Key Takeaways:

• See the difference between what you actually give your attention to and what you say you believe.
• Hear Anthony's own list of specific moments God came through — a new job during the 2008 financial crisis, a six-figure business built in Australia, a decade alongside the founder of a major global brand.
• Learn the story behind the word "Ebenezer" from 1 Samuel 7 — a stone Samuel set up specifically so Israel wouldn't forget what God had already done.
• Hear Charles Spurgeon's take on "hitherto hath the Lord helped us."
• Get one practical challenge: build your own list of wins before you forget them.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction — What Does Seeking God Look Like?
01:30 Welcome to Sunday Table
03:00 What You Chase vs. What You Remember
11:00 The Verse — Psalm 63 and the Ebenezer Stone
15:00 This Week's Idea + The Rattle Question
19:00 Prayer for Dads Who Forget What God's Already Done
22:00 Closing Thoughts + How to Connect

Scripture & Resources Mentioned:

• Psalm 63:1 — "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee."
• Psalm 63:7 — "Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice."
• 1 Samuel 7:12 — "Then Samuel took a stone... and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us."
• Charles Spurgeon — "Hitherto the Lord hath helped us. Through poverty — through wealth — through sickness — through health — hitherto."

This Week's Idea: Build your own list of wins — every time God came through — before you forget them.
Rattle Question: Stop right now and name five things God has come through for you. Not someday — right now. If you can't get past two, that's not a faith problem. That's a memory problem.

Connect:

• Work with Anthony 1-on-1: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0f
• Follow Divorced Dads of America on Instagram: https://bit.ly/insta_DDA
• Join the Divorced Dads of America community on Skool: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97

Episode Title: Divorced Dads Ask: How Do You Deal With Missing Your Kid?
Description: A photo memory pops up. Your kids, two years younger, laughing about nothing. And it wrecks you before you've even had coffee. Anthony answers a question every divorced dad eventually asks — how do you actually deal with missing your kids — by naming the two ramps most guys default to (run into busy, or spiral into shame) and why neither one works. He brings in Dr. Pauline Boss's concept of ambiguous loss — grief without closure, because the person isn't gone, just not here right now — and research on post-traumatic growth, which found that growth comes not from the pain itself but from what you do with it afterward. Then walks through The Bridge, four moves to stop waiting for your kids to come home and start building the man, and the home, they're coming back to.

In this episode:

• The two default ramps when a memory hits — running into busy, or spiraling into shame — and why neither works
• Dr. Pauline Boss's concept of ambiguous loss — grief that never fully closes because the person isn't gone, just not currently present
• Why missing your kids isn't a sign you're failing — it's proof you love them
• Research on post-traumatic growth — growth comes from the work, not the pain itself
• The Bridge — four moves to stop waiting for your kids and start building for them
• What your kids notice about a dad who builds through the ache instead of running from it or drowning in it

Apply for 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0f
Join the free Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97
Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

Description: The list runs out. The house goes quiet. And something in your chest gets loud. Anthony breaks down what actually happens the moment a divorced dad's to-do list empties out on a day off with no kids — the racing mind, the two default moves (burn the day moving, or numb out on the couch) — and why a real University of Virginia study found people would rather shock themselves than sit alone with their thoughts for fifteen minutes. Anthony gets honest about his own pattern before he built The Solitude Menu, the four-move framework that turned unscheduled silence from something he dreaded into the thing that actually rebuilt him.

In this episode:

• Why the panic hits exactly when the to-do list runs out, not before
• The University of Virginia study on why people choose electric shocks over sitting with their own thoughts
• Anthony's own pattern — burn the day moving, or numb out on the couch — and what both were actually hiding
• Psalm 46:10 and 2 Corinthians 10:5 — what scripture says about stillness and captive thoughts
• The Solitude Menu — four moves to turn silence from a threat into a tool
• What your kids pick up on even on the days they're not with you

Apply for 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0f
Join the free Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97
Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

This week on Sunday Table, the Sunday faith segment from Divorced Dads of America, Anthony Thompson tells the story of waiting backstage with Kanye West and 2 Chainz at a concert in Australia — and what happened when the wait finally ended taught him more about trusting God's timing than any sermon he'd ever heard. If you hate waiting on God as much as Anthony does, this episode is for you.

Key Takeaways:

• See why the anxiety of "I need to get there now" is actually a trust problem, not a patience problem.
• Hear the backstage story behind Anthony's biggest lesson on waiting on God's timing.
• Understand Isaiah 40:31's promise to "walk and not faint" — and why walking with God means skipping the lines you'd otherwise stand in alone.
• Learn what Andrew Murray, author of the classic devotional Waiting on God, taught about God's own patience with His timing.
• Get one honest question to sit with about what you're actually afraid of if you truly trusted God's timing.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction — Why I Hate Waiting
01:30 Welcome to Sunday Table
03:00 Backstage With Kanye West and 2 Chainz
10:00 The Verse — Isaiah 40:31
13:00 This Week's Idea + The Rattle Question
19:00 Prayer for Dads in a Season of Waiting
22:00 Closing Thoughts + How to Connect

Scripture & Resources Mentioned:

• Isaiah 40:31 — "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
• Andrew Murray, Waiting on God — "God is a wise husbandman, who waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it."

This Week's Idea: Stop trying to get there on your own timeline. Walk with God, and let Him bring you in when it's actually time.
Rattle Question: What does actually waiting on God — actually trusting Him — look like for you right now, in the thing you're rushing? And if you're honest: what are you terrified would happen if you really did that?

Connect:

• Work with Anthony 1-on-1: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0f
• Follow Divorced Dads of America on Instagram: https://bit.ly/insta_DDA
• Join the Divorced Dads of America community on Skool: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97

Description: A dad's question stopped Anthony in his tracks — am I actually healing, or have I just gotten really good at distracting myself from the pain? This episode is for every divorced dad who's been busy, productive, and looking like a comeback story on the outside while something specific still levels him in exactly the same way it did a year ago. Anthony gets honest about the season he mistook motion for healing, breaks down why distraction makes pain quieter while healing makes you stronger in the same spot, and walks through The Numb Test — four moves to find out which one you're actually doing, and start treating the wound instead of just outrunning it.

In this episode:

• Why staying busy can genuinely quiet pain without ever healing it
• The line that tells the difference: distraction makes it quieter, healing makes you stronger in the same spot
• What Anthony's own "comeback story" season was actually hiding
• Psalm 147:3 — why healing requires looking at the wound before it can be bound up
• The Numb Test — four moves to find your uncontrollable moment and go toward the wound on your own terms
• Why keeping your job, gym, and schedule is fine — as long as you stop calling them medicine
• What your kids learn when they only ever see you in motion, versus when they see you name a hard day

Apply for 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0f
Join the free Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97
Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

Description: What actually comes out of you when your ex squeezes you, when your kids push back, when the bill comes at the worst time? In this episode Anthony breaks down the orange test — a simple picture with a brutal application — to explain why getting squeezed doesn't create who you are, it reveals who you are, and why the ugly words that slip out under pressure are a report on what's already inside, not a character flaw you can't fix. Anthony gets personal about the moments his own mouth proved he didn't yet believe what he tells his kids, unpacks why being "double-minded" (a Greek word that literally means two-souled — two visions pulling against each other) cancels out every affirmation you don't actually believe, and walks through The Fruit Check — four moves to catch what's coming out of you and change what's feeding it before the next squeeze.

In this episode:

• Why the words that slip out under pressure are a report on inventory, not a malfunction
• The orange test — why it doesn't matter who does the squeezing, only one fruit can come out
• What Anthony's own worst moments exposed about where he was still doing the work
• Luke 6:45 and Proverbs 23:7 — what scripture says about the mouth and the mind
• The Fruit Check — four moves to catch the fruit, ask what it reveals, and change what you're feeding on purpose
• Why being "double-minded" (Greek: dipsychos, literally two-souled) cancels out every affirmation you don't believe
• What your kids are actually tasting when you get squeezed — and why it matters more than what you tell them

Apply for 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0f
Join the free Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97
Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica