We Chat Divorce Podcast

Part 3 of 3: The Divorce Clarity Guide Series

You know financial preparation matters—but where do you begin?

In the final episode of this three-part We Chat Divorce series, My Divorce Solution co-founders Karen Chellew and Catherine Shanahan walk through 10 practical steps to help you understand your finances before negotiating or signing an agreement.

After exploring 10 costly mistakes in Part 1 and 10 insights from experience in Part 2, Karen and Catherine bring those lessons together into an actionable framework.

For each step, they share questions they ask when building an MDS Financial Portrait™, MDS’s proprietary financial divorce planning tool. Through examples involving retirement accounts, business interests, debt, and the family home, they explain how supporting documents and unresolved questions connect to real decisions.

The 10 steps:

You’ll also learn:

Catch up on the series:

Created to mark MDS’s 10-year anniversary, this series follows The Divorce Clarity Guide: What to Know Before You Decide.

Download the free Divorce Clarity Guide and choose one unfinished step to begin this week.

Learn more about the MDS Financial Portrait™ at MyDivorceSolution.com

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Part 2 of 3: The Divorce Clarity Guide Series

An amicable divorce can still leave important financial questions unanswered. Having documents doesn’t necessarily mean you understand them. And a decision made early in the process can affect your life years later.

In the second episode of this three-part We Chat Divorce series, Karen Chellew and Catherine Shanahan, co-founders of My Divorce Solution, share 10 insights from a decade of helping people prepare financially for divorce.

Building on Part 1’s discussion of costly mistakes, this conversation explores how preparation, financial discovery, and transparency help people participate more confidently in their decisions. Karen and Catherine also share personal experiences from their own divorces and lessons from building MDS together.

In this episode:

You don’t need every answer today. You deserve to understand the information shaping your next decision.

Explore the full series:

This series marks MDS’s 10-year anniversary and follows The Divorce Clarity Guide: What to Know Before You Decide.

Download the free Divorce Clarity Guide to explore all 10 mistakes, 10 insights, and 10 steps.

Learn more about the MDS Financial Portrait™ at MyDivorceSolution.com

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Part 1 of 3: The Divorce Clarity Guide Series

Whether you’re considering divorce or reviewing a proposal, begin with this question: What financial information do I need before making this decision?

Download the free Divorce Clarity Guide and follow along throughout the series. https://mydivorcesolution.com/the-divorce-clarity-guide/

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What should you expect from your divorce attorney—and what questions can help you understand the strategy, costs, and decisions ahead?

Family law attorney Josh Northam joins Karen Chellew, Legal Liaison, and Catherine Shanahan, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, to explore how to build a productive working relationship with your attorney.

Drawing on his Texas practice, Josh discusses the difference between aggressive and effective representation, why clear expectations matter, and how to weigh what is legally possible against what may be practical for your circumstances.

In This Episode:
• Questions to ask about your attorney’s approach and proposed strategy
• Weighing the cost of pursuing a dispute against its potential benefit
• Identifying missing financial information before making decisions
• Texas spousal maintenance and property division considerations
• Understanding tradeoffs involving the house, cash, and retirement assets
• How financial preparation can support your work with your attorney

You deserve to understand your options and participate in the decisions that shape your future.

Download the free episode companion checklist, Working With Your Divorce Attorney: Questions, Costs, and Expectations. Use it to organize your priorities, identify financial questions, and prepare for your next attorney conversation.

Get the checklist: https://mydivorcesolution.com/working-with-your-divorce-attorney/

Guest: Josh Northam, family law attorney at Shackelford, McKinley & Norton, LLP, Dallas, Texas.

Legal examples reflect a Texas practice; laws and outcomes vary by state and individual circumstances.

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Why can leaving an abusive relationship feel so difficult—even when you know you have been hurt?

Dr. Nadine Macaluso returns to We Chat Divorce to join Karen Chellew, Legal Liaison, and Catherine Shanahan, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, for a conversation about trauma bonds, coercive control, and rebuilding trust in yourself.

Drawing on her lived experience and work as a therapist, Dr. Nadine explores why the label “codependent” can leave abuse survivors feeling responsible for someone else’s behavior. She discusses how control can create emotional and financial dependence, why someone may miss a harmful partner after leaving, and why relationship chaos can feel familiar.

In This Episode:• Why Dr. Nadine challenges the codependency label in abusive relationships• How coercive control can shape financial dependence and self-doubt• Why leaving does not always bring immediate emotional relief• The role of self-care, connection, and support in recovery• How financial clarity can support more informed decisions

Karen and Catherine also discuss the financial consequences of leaving the workforce and the importance of understanding your finances before making decisions. The MDS Financial Portrait™ is a verified financial planning tool and deliverable, supported by expert analysis, that helps you understand your financial picture and evaluate options with your attorney or mediator. Seeking clarity does not require committing to divorce.

Explore Dr. Nadine’s resources, including the trauma bond assessment discussed in this episode: https://drnae.com

This conversation is educational and does not replace individualized therapeutic, legal, or financial guidance.

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In a blended family, an argument about parenting or money can carry deeper questions: Do I belong here? Does my voice matter? Are we still on the same team?

Licensed marriage and family therapist and blended family expert April Eldemire joins Karen Chellew and Catherine Shanahan to explore the emotional challenges of stepfamily life—and how those challenges can influence financial decisions before, during, and after divorce.

Drawing on their professional expertise and personal experiences, April, Karen, and Catherine discuss the isolation stepparents can feel, the attachment patterns that continue after a marriage ends, and the pressure to accept financial arrangements just to keep the peace.

In this episode, we discuss:

Whether you’re building a blended family or questioning what comes next, you deserve to understand your role, your options, and your financial future.

Connect with April: Couples Thrive

Explore the MDS Financial Portrait™: Understand your financial picture and the potential impact of different decisions before you negotiate or sign. Visit My Divorce Solution.

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A settlement can look equal on paper and still leave you wondering how you’ll pay the bills. In this episode of We Chat Divorce, Karen Chellew and Catherine Shanahan walk through a hypothetical couple’s proposed division of $2 million in assets. Each person receives $1 million—but one keeps the house while the other receives most of the retirement savings. What will each need to live on after the divorce?

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Why is it so hard to leave a relationship that hurts you—and how can you begin preparing when fear and financial uncertainty keep you stuck?

Before Dr. Nadine Macaluso returns to We Chat Divorce for a new conversation, we’re revisiting our interview from last year about trauma bonds, financial control, and rebuilding trust in yourself.

A therapist, author of Run Like Hell, and former wife of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Dr. Nadine brings both personal experience and professional insight to this conversation with Catherine Shanahan and Karen Chellew. Together, they explore how controlling relationships can affect your emotional well-being, your access to money, and your confidence in making decisions.

In this episode, we discuss:

Whether you’re considering divorce or trying to understand your relationship, this conversation offers a place to begin. You don’t have to have every answer today, and you don’t have to navigate the uncertainty alone.

Stay tuned for our upcoming conversation with Dr. Nadine.

Free Listener Download

Ready to make sense of what you've read?

Download our free companion guide, You're Not Crazy: A Guide to Recognizing Trauma Bonds and Reclaiming Your Clarity — inspired by our conversation with Dr. Nadine Macaluso. Inside, you'll find the episode's key lessons, a grounding exercise straight from Dr. Nadine, and reflection prompts to help you apply it all to your own life.

Explore divorce financial planning and free resources at ⁠My Divorce Solution⁠.

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When a business is part of a divorce, determining what it is worth is only the beginning. The company may also be a marital asset, a source of household income and the employer paying expenses for the family. Each of these roles can affect the financial outcome for both spouses.

In this episode of We Chat Divorce, Karen Chellew and Catherine Shanahan explain why business decisions should never be made from a valuation number alone. They explore the questions that reveal what is actually included in a valuation—from intellectual property, real estate and goodwill to personal expenses paid through the company.

Karen and Catherine also discuss why two qualified experts can reach very different conclusions. The difference may not be the math, but the assumptions behind it—including valuation dates, reasonable compensation, normalized expenses, growth projections and goodwill. Understanding those assumptions can help you ask focused questions and avoid unnecessary professional fees.

You’ll also learn why cash flow matters when one spouse keeps the business, how personal expenses paid by the company affect post-divorce budgets and what to consider before accepting a multiyear buyout. Karen shares her own experience of remaining legally connected to a former spouse’s company—and the costly consequences of not being formally removed.

In this episode:

Download the Business Divorce Financial Clarity Checklist

Organize what you know, identify what may be missing and prepare more focused questions for your financial and legal professionals. This practical checklist covers business assets, valuation assumptions, cash flow, personal expenses and the steps needed to protect your financial future.

Learn more at MyDivorceSolution.com

Because when a business is involved, clarity means understanding not only what it is worth—but what your financial future depends on.

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What happens when the life you planned suddenly falls apart—and you have to decide what comes next?

Three years after her first appearance on We Chat Divorce, bestselling author, filmmaker, and creator Gabrielle Stone returns to share how heartbreak, solo travel, and honest self-reflection transformed her life.

After discovering her husband’s affair and experiencing another devastating breakup shortly afterward, Gabrielle made a bold decision: she took the month-long European trip she had planned—alone. That experience became the foundation for her bestselling book, Eat, Pray, #FML, and a much larger journey toward healing, independence, and trusting herself again.

Gabrielle opens up about the financial manipulation she experienced in her first marriage, why she became more involved in managing finances in her current marriage, and how she and her husband created clear protections for their blended family.

She also shares how her women-only international trips are helping participants step outside their comfort zones, build meaningful friendships, and rediscover who they are beyond heartbreak, fear, or the roles they have held for years.

In this episode:

If you are wondering who you are after divorce—or whether you can trust yourself to begin again—Gabrielle’s story is a powerful reminder that rebuilding happens one courageous choice at a time.

Ready to take the next brave step? Download The Brave Choice, a free companion to the episode featuring Gabrielle’s two-paths reflection, a “Small Brave Steps to Reclaim” checklist, the Know Your Numbers financial-clarity prompts, and a set of permissions to help you make the rest of your life the best of your life.

Listen to Gabrielle’s previous We Chat Divorce episode:

Connect with Gabrielle:
Instagram: @gabriellestone
TikTok: @gabrielle_stone

To learn how the MDS Financial Portrait™ can help you understand your finances and prepare for informed negotiations, visit MyDivorceSolution.com.

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