The Good Divorce® Show

Epizodai

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  The Financial Mistakes That Wreck Divorce Settlements 10.09.2026 39min

  A divorce isn’t just a legal process—it’s an emotional, financial, and logistical transformation. In this episode, Karen welcomes Amy Colton, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA), wealth advisor, and family law mediator, for a deep and eye‑opening conversation about the financial side of divorce that so many people overlook.Amy explains why divorce truly requires three professionals: emotional support, legal guidance, and financial expertise. She breaks down the common myth that attorneys handle “everything,” and reveals why relying solely on legal counsel often leads to missed information, unnecessary conflict, and higher costs. As she puts it, “What do people fight about? They fight about finances.”Together, Karen and Amy explore the tax implications of divorce—especially for couples separating late in the year—and how filing status, capital gains, and taxable vs. non‑taxable assets can dramatically affect the final settlement. Amy shares real‑world examples of hidden income, red flags in tax returns, and even financial abuse uncovered through forensic review. “There are so many nuances inside the tax return,” she notes, emphasizing why every divorcing couple should examine at least two years of returns.Listeners will also learn about QDROs, restricted stock units, dividing the marital home, and why “fair” doesn’t always mean 50/50. Amy offers guidance for those anxious about managing money post‑divorce and explains how she supports clients in building financial stability long after the paperwork is signed.Whether you’re contemplating divorce, in the thick of it, or supporting someone who is, this episode delivers essential financial insight—and a reminder that divorce can be designed with intention rather than defaulting to conflict.Find Amy Colton at yourdivorcemadesimple.comConnect with Karen at karenmcnenny.com
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  Bonus Parents, Big Feelings: Christina McGhee on Introducing New Partners with Intention 27.08.2026 52min

  In this episode of The Good Divorce, host Karen McNenny welcomes back internationally recognized divorce educator Christina McGhee, MSW — author of Parenting Apart, lead trainer and founder of the Co‑Parenting Specialist Certification Training Program, and Education & Training Director for the award‑winning documentary project Split. Drawing from more than 20 years of professional experience and over three decades as a bonus parent, Christina offers clear, compassionate guidance for one of the most emotionally charged transitions in post‑divorce life: introducing a new partner to your children.Karen and Christina explore why dating after divorce requires a different kind of pacing, why “just because you’re ready doesn’t mean your kids are,” and how premature introductions can create secondary grief, re‑traumatization, and long‑term attachment hesitancy. Christina explains how resilience is instilled, not innate, and why thoughtful timing protects children from repeated losses as adults move in and out of their lives. They also discuss the importance of giving your co‑parent a respectful heads‑up, avoiding secrecy, and ensuring kids aren’t put in the position of messenger, mediator, or emotional buffer.The conversation moves into practical strategies for first meetings — kid‑friendly, low‑pressure, activity‑based encounters that allow children to approach and retreat at their own pace. Christina also addresses the complexities of blended dynamics, the myth of the Brady Bunch, and why generous interpretation (rather than suspicion or territoriality) helps stabilize the co‑parenting ecosystem. Throughout, she underscores the foundational truth: how you begin shapes where you end up, and thoughtful beginnings create healthier, more connected bonus‑family relationships.Resources:Christina McGhee’s book: Parenting ApartSplit & Split Up Documentary Project: splitfilm.orgCo‑Parenting Specialist Certification Training ProgramKaren’s book: The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your FamilyWork with Karen: thegooddivorcecoach.com
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  Summer Encore: Childhood Sweethearts, Co-Parents — Kelly and Kyle on Choosing Love 13.08.2026 50min

  Kelly and Kyle met in preschool in Lake Forest, Illinois, lost touch for 25 years, reconnected in Missoula — and then found themselves unexpectedly expecting. They never married, but they built something most married couples would envy: a genuinely loving, cooperative co-parenting family centered on their daughter Charlotte. In this encore, both join Karen to talk honestly about the early friction, the blended family that grew up around Charlotte, and the biannual family vacations they now take together. Kyle even held the ceremonial hoop at Kelly's wedding. A story about choosing love over logistics — and what it looks like when it actually works.Connect with Karen at karenmcnenny.com
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  Future You Deserves Better: Kathryn Grady on Intentional Divorce and Financial Literacy 30.07.2026 53min

  Adult child of divorce Kathryn Grady joins host Karen McNenny for a candid, deeply human conversation about what divorce looks like through the eyes of a child — not just in the moment, but decades later. Kathryn reflects on being raised in the 1970s by a single mother who stepped into independence during the early era of no‑fault divorce. As Karen notes, “your mom really was this warrior woman coming out like a phoenix out of the ashes." Kathryn shares how her mother’s courage, stability, and intentionality shaped her sense of self, her adulthood, and her understanding of healthy partnership.Together, Karen and Kathryn explore the emotional ecosystem of divorce: the stigma of the 80s, the latchkey‑kid generation, the importance of protecting children from adult conflict, and the long‑term impact of how parents speak about one another. Kathryn describes the slow realization of her father’s mental‑health challenges and the quiet ways her mother shielded her from instability.In the second half of the episode, Kathryn brings her professional lens as a financial advisor, offering practical guidance for newly divorced or soon‑to‑be‑solo households. She and Karen walk listeners through the first steps of financial clarity — gathering assets, understanding accounts, and building confidence through education. As Kathryn says, “a conversation is not a commitment — it’s just a conversation." Their shared message: divorce is survivable, navigable, and even transformative when approached with intention, stability, and informed decision‑making.Karen McNenny: https://www.karenmcnenny.com/Kathryn Grady (Financial Advisor): https://www.northwesternmutual.com/financial/advisor/kathryn-grady/
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  Summer Encore: What Happens When the Marriage Ends and the Band Breaks Up? 16.07.2026 59min

  Jake and Jenny met in their early twenties, made music together across two decades, and then had to figure out how to dissolve a marriage without destroying everything they'd built. In this encore conversation, the Bozeman-based musicians share how Jake's family history — a sprawling, amicable blended family that gathered together every Christmas — gave them both a blueprint for what was possible. They talk about navigating a divorce with no children but deep community roots, honoring a successful marriage as complete rather than a failure, and finding new ways to love each other from a distance. Genuine, funny, and quietly profound.Connect with Karen at karenmcnenny.com
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  Kate Liles on Growing Up Across Two Homes When Nothing Was Shared 02.07.2026 43min

  What does divorce look like through the eyes of a child — and decades later, through the eyes of an adult? This week, Karen welcomes Kate Liles, who grew up navigating life across two households after her parents divorced when she was just a year old. Kate shares her story with honesty and grace, offering a rare, firsthand look at the lasting impact of the decisions parents make during and after divorce.Kate and Karen explore the do's and don'ts that shaped Kate's childhood: the split holidays and double birthday parties, the toys that weren't allowed to cross between homes, the emotional labor of playing referee between parents — and the extended family members and step-parents who complicated things further. Kate also reflects on the long shadow of parental conflict, the challenge of building her own marriage as a child of divorce, and the moment at her college graduation when she witnessed something she'd waited more than three decades to see.A cautionary tale and a story of resilience, this episode is a reminder that children aren't just caught in the middle of divorce — they carry it with them long after it's over. And as Kate says: your kids will be okay. But the choices you make now matter more than you know.The Good Divorce is hosted by Karen McNenny, author, mediator, and divorce consultant. For more, visit karenmcnenny.com, and pick up Karen's new book, The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family.
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  Summer Encore: For the Dads — Patrick Duganz on Father Engagement After Divorce 18.06.2026 1val

  Karen revisits a Father's Day conversation with Patrick Duganz, who has spent over a decade as the father engagement specialist at the Gallatin City-County Health Department in Bozeman, Montana. Patrick talks candidly about why dads often arrive at parenthood underprepared, how a lack of targeted support for fathers shows up in everything from home visiting programs to divorce proceedings, and what it looks like when a dad gets the help he needs just in time. His story about "Bob" — a new single dad on the verge of giving up — is one for the books. A warm, practical, and deeply human conversation about supporting fathers so they can show up fully for their kids.Connect with Karen at karenmcnenny.com
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  The Weight of Two Losses: A Child and a Marriage 04.06.2026 52min

  Divorce coach Kelly Myers knows what it looks like when the system fails families — because she lived it. When Kelly and her husband divorced in 2011–2012, their three boys were six, eight, and ten years old. What followed was two years of litigation and more than $100,000 in legal costs — a path she didn't fully understand she was choosing when she stepped into it.In this candid and deeply personal conversation, Kelly shares how the "ecosystem of divorce" — mediators, attorneys, friends, and family — can fan the flames of conflict rather than help families restructure. Her mediator told her not to worry about financial inequities; her attorney didn't tell her that pursuing support modifications would reopen custody. The result: years of stress, resentment, and a version of herself she's not proud of — one who was yelling in the car on the way to her son's eighth-grade graduation, too overwhelmed to simply be present.         Kelly reflects on the turning point that came when she stopped focusing on what was fair and started asking what was right for her kids. She and her co-parent Blake eventually built a respectful, collaborative relationship — one that was tested profoundly when their son Jack passed away in June 2024 after years of struggle with mental health and addiction. Rather than letting grief pull them apart, Kelly and Blake came together to plan Jack's service, support their surviving sons, and hold each other through unimaginable loss. That experience crystallized for Kelly why this work matters so much.Now a certified divorce and co-parenting coach, Kelly helps clients understand the realities of the divorce system before they're swept into it — managing emotions outside of decision-making, building comprehensive parenting plans, and thinking about co-parenting not just as a legal arrangement but as a long-term business partnership in raising their children.Key themes in this episode:How the divorce ecosystem — lawyers, mediators, social circles — shapes (and often inflames) outcomesWhy litigation risks are rarely explained to clients up frontThe shift from "what's fair" to "what does my child's divorce story look like?"Viewing co-parenting as a business partnership, not a custody arrangementThe difference between parenting 50% of the time and being a parent 100% of the timeRepairing the relationship with your kids — and yourself — even after difficult chaptersThe gift of a co-parenting relationship strong enough to hold a family together through lossResources & Websites Mentioned:First Steps Divorce — Kelly Myers' coaching practice: firststepsdivorce.comThe Good Divorce Podcast — hosted by Karen McNenny: karenmcnenny.comThe Good Divorce by Karen McNenny — available wherever books are sold
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  The Book Is in the World — Now the Real Work Begins (Part 3 of 3) 28.05.2026 25min

  On April 26th, 2024, an email arrived asking Karen if she'd ever thought about writing a book. Exactly two years later to the day, a box of 300 copies landed on her front porch.In the final episode of this behind-the-scenes mini-series, Karen picks up where the manuscript ends and the movement begins. She talks about her first major book launch — a keynote for 250 HR professionals in her hometown — and why a room full of people who manage workplace breakups turned out to be exactly the right audience. She shares the moment she asked everyone touched by divorce to stand up, and how quickly almost the entire room was on its feet.She also makes the case for why this book belongs in HR offices, therapists' waiting rooms, and the hands of anyone who has ever loved someone going through a divorce — which, it turns out, is most of us.Karen also reads from the final chapter — The New — a quiet scene at a middle school choir concert where an offhand compliment from her ex-husband reminds her why they did all of this in the first place.Pick up your copy of The Good Divorce at karenmcnenny.com/the-good-divorce.
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  Tearing It Apart and Sewing It Back Together: Writing The Good Divorce (Part 2 of 3) 21.05.2026 25min

  She had a book deal. Now she had to write the book.In Part 2 of this behind-the-scenes series, Karen walks through what it actually took to get The Good Divorce from outline to print — nine months of writing squeezed around a graduating son, a daughter heading to Europe, divorce clients, speaking gigs, and a single-income household with no one to walk the dog. She bought a van, hired back her ghostwriting team with money she didn't have, and spent the better part of three months writing from campgrounds across the Pacific Northwest.Then came the restructuring. Two days over Thanksgiving, alone with her golden retriever Moab, Karen spread the entire manuscript across her kitchen counter and dining room table — color-coded, categorized, and cut apart — before putting it back together into something that finally made sense. Thirty percent didn't make the cut. What followed was twelve days of around-the-clock rewriting alongside her developmental editor in South Africa, a copy editor who found corrections on every page, a design team, and a managing editor in India keeping all the plates spinning toward a May 19th release date.At the end of the show, Karen reads from Chapter Seven — The Community — on leaning into her people when the grief felt too big to carry alone, and the friend who gave her permission to stop pretending everything was bubbles and rainbows.Part 3 is next: the book is written. Now she has to sell it.🔖 Pick up your copy of The Good Divorce at karenmcnenny.com/the-good-divorce.
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  The Book That Was Chasing Me: How The Good Divorce Found Its Way Into the World (Part 1 of 3) 14.05.2026 31min

  At 18, Karen McNenny wrote in a pageant essay that her greatest ambition was to write a bestselling book. She had no idea what it would be about. She certainly never guessed divorce.In this first of three special episodes, Karen tells the origin story of The Good Divorce — from that Miss Montana essay to a publishing offer from Wiley/Jossey-Bass that arrived faster than anyone in the industry said it should. Along the way: a pandemic pivot, a stranger's persistent emails she almost ignored, two ghostwriters who flew to Missoula to squeeze her brain for two days, and a New York Times bestselling author who finally talked her off the ledge when the contract arrived and the reality of what she'd set in motion hit hard.She also reads from Chapter Four, “The Kids,” on preparing to deliver the hardest lines of her life to an audience of two.
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  Gray Divorce, Adult Children, and the Myth That They'll Be Fine — with Dr. Carol Hughes 07.05.2026 55min

  What happens when parents wait until the kids are grown to divorce — and then discover their adult children are not fine with it? In this rich and eye-opening conversation, Karen sits down with Dr. Carol Hughes, clinical psychologist, two-time Fulbright Scholar, and one of the true pioneers of the collaborative divorce movement, to challenge one of the most pervasive myths in divorce: that adult children don't need the same care and intentionality that minor children do.Dr. Hughes shares the origin story of collaborative divorce — rooted in a single letter written on January 1, 1990 by Minnesota attorney Stu Webb, who declared he was "done going to court and destroying families" — and how that moment sparked a movement that has since trained over 25,000 collaborative professionals worldwide.Together, Karen and Dr. Hughes explore:Loyalty binds — what they are, how they form, and why they damage children of all agesThe five F's — fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and feign — and how our neurological wiring pulls us toward conflict when we feel unsafeGray divorce — why divorce among adults 50 and older doubled between 1990 and 2012, and what research from Bowling Green State University predicts by 2030The biggest myth about adult children — why "they're adults, they can handle it" is not only wrong, but harmfulFamily before finances — why starting with the children, not the money, leads to better outcomes for everyoneThe "six-year-old within" — how adult children still carry the emotional vulnerability of their younger selves, even when they appear to be copingCreating a divorce story — how parents can paint a picture of the future that reduces fear and uncertainty for their childrenThe statement of highest intentions — a collaborative divorce tool for helping couples get clear on what they actually want the process to look likePractical guidance for gray divorcing parents: how to involve adult children collaboratively in planning holidays, family gatherings, and transitions — without burdening them or writing them out of the storyDr. Hughes also opens up about her own childhood experience of her parents' divorce — including a detail that will shock modern listeners — and how an unexpected phone call from a minor's counsel changed the entire direction of her career.Resources & Links Mentioned:📖 Dr. Carol Hughes' book: Home Will Never Be the Same Again: A Guide for Adult Children of Gray Divorce— available at Barnes & Noble and all major booksellers🌐 Dr. Hughes' divorce website: divorcepeacemaking.com✍️ Dr. Hughes and Psychology Today: Visit Psychology Today's guest blog📖 Karen's book: The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family🎓 The Good Divorce Academy: Karen's online community and classroom for ongoing support and education🌐 Work with Karen directly: thegooddivorcecoach.com🤝 Collaborative Divorce Solutions of Orange County🌍 International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) — trains collaborative divorce professionals worldwide📖 Workbooks referenced: Our Family in Two Homes and A Family in a Few Homes — created by a Canadian collaborative divorce attorney for use with minor and adult children respectively"Divorce is not a weapon — it's a tool. And when used well, it can be a tool for transformation." — Karen McNaney
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  Raiford Dalton Palmer on Divorce Done Differently: A Family Law Attorney's Case for the Good Divorce 30.04.2026 52min

  What does it look like when a divorce attorney goes through his own divorce — and comes out the other side with a blended family, a co-parenting partnership, and a whole new perspective on his practice? That's exactly what Karen McNenny explores in this conversation with Raiford Dalton Palmer, Illinois divorce attorney, bestselling author, and CEO of STG Divorce Law.Raiford's own 2015 divorce after a 24-year marriage shaped not just how he lives — but how he leads his firm and serves his clients. In this episode, he pulls back the curtain on what divorce law gets wrong, what families can do differently, and why his commercial litigation background may be the secret weapon more divorcing couples need.In this episode, you'll hear:Raiford's personal divorce story — what went right, what was hard, and how his blended family became a model of abundance over scarcityWhy "simple" and "easy" are not the same thing when it comes to divorceHow the adversarial, win/lose court system fails families — and the alternatives that are quietly changing the landscape (mediation, collaboration, arbitration, and the "1.5 attorney divorce")The 90/10 Rule: what attorneys can actually help you with — and what belongs with a therapist or divorce coachCost-benefit analysis applied to divorce — why staying in a high-conflict process can cost you far more than the dollars you're fighting overWhy social media silence is one of the smartest moves you can make during a divorceA preview of Raiford's upcoming book, I Just Want to Know How — the guide he wishes he'd had when struggling with his own marriage, and the book he believes couples should read before they ever say the D wordWhy going to marriage counseling early is not a sign you want a divorce — and why waiting too long is like treating stage 4 cancerResources mentioned:📘 I Just Want to Know How — Raiford's upcoming book, expected Fall 2026🎙️ I Just Want This Done Divorce Podcast — live Thursdays, drops every Friday on all major platforms and YouTube💬 Illinois Divorce Support — free, anonymous private Facebook group (open to all, not just Illinois residents)📲 Follow Raiford: @RaifordPalmer on TikTok, Instagram, and X⚖️ STG Divorce Law, P.C. — https://www.stglawfirm.com/attorneys/raiford-d-palmer/ | Serving the greater Chicagoland areaKaren McNenny is the author of The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family. To work with Kathleen directly or join her online community, visit TheGoodDivorceCoach.com and the Good Divorce Academy.And remember: "Everything will be okay in the end — and if it's not okay, it's not the end."
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  The Grief That Gets No Casserole 23.04.2026 25min

  Divorce is a death — of a marriage, an identity, a family, a home — and yet our culture offers almost none of the support it would for any other kind of loss. In this solo episode, Karen gets honest about the grief of divorce: why we wildly underestimate it, why we're often left to navigate it in isolation, and what it actually looks like to move through it with intention.Karen introduces the concept of ambiguous grief — the particular pain of losing someone who is still very much present in your life as a co-parent — and why that "gone but not gone" experience makes healing so disorienting. She also calls out the trap of pain shopping: the social media stalking, the gossip, the drive-bys that keep picking at a wound that's trying to heal.You'll also hear Karen's case for including divorce in the Family Medical Leave Act, practical advice for surviving those first brutal transition days when the kids leave for the other home, and why the goal isn't to stop caring — it's to reach a place of emotional indifference, where your ex's choices simply don't rattle you anymore.This is an episode worth sharing with anyone in your support circle who wants to show up for you but isn't sure how.Topics covered:Why divorce grief is invisible — and why that isolation makes it harderThe many losses layered inside one divorceAmbiguous grief and the "gone but not gone" experience of co-parentingPain shopping: what it is and why it sets you backHow scars are different from wounds (and why that's good news)What emotional indifference actually means — and why it's the goalThe grief-relief cocktail: feeling two things at oncePractical tips for transition days when the kids leaveKaren's advocacy for divorce-inclusive workplace policiesResources:The Good Divorce by Karen McNennyThe Good Divorce Academy — online community & classroomthegooddivorcecoach.com"Everything will be okay in the end. And if it's not okay, it's not the end."
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  Money, Faith, and High Conflict: Navigating Divorce with the Freedom Team 16.04.2026 55min

  In this episode, Karen is joined by the "Freedom Team" — Keri Gwynne, CDC Certified Divorce Coach and CEO of Starting Point by Freedom, and Ryan Finley, CPA, CDFA, CVA, and founder of Freedom Financial Services Group. Together, they bring a uniquely holistic perspective to divorce: coaching, financial forensics, and mediation — all under one roof.Both Keri and Ryan are survivors of high conflict divorce, and they share candidly how those lived experiences shaped their mission to help families navigate the process with clarity, compassion, and a child-centered lens.In this episode, you'll hear about:How Keri escaped an abusive marriage in the Nashville Bible Belt — and why shame kept her silent for so longWhat a CPA, CDFA, and CVA actually do — and why your attorney alone isn't enough to protect your financial futureForensic accounting explained: what it is, when you need it, and the red flags that signal hidden assetsReal stories of hidden assets — from money funneled into a mother's account to overpaying the IRS by a million dollars!Why everything earned during a marriage is marital property — regardless of whose name is on the accountThe tension between faith and divorce: how Keri coaches clients through shame, scripture, and spiritual abuseHow to talk to your church community about divorce — and why you're asking for support, not permissionKeeping children at the center of financial decisions and co-parenting agreementsThe Marriage Mastermind — a new workshop by the Freedom Team designed to go upstream, helping couples build stronger marriages using what divorce professionals see break them apartThe patterns that lead to divorce: financial secrecy, infidelity, pornography addiction, losing yourself in the relationshipWhat it took for both Keri and Ryan to trust love again — and what they looked for the second time aroundConnect with the Freedom Team:Keri Gwynne | Starting Point by Freedom Divorce coaching, mediation & family-focused guidance | Nashville, TN & Sarasota, FL 🌐 startingpointadvocacy.com Ryan Finley | Freedom Financial Services Group Divorce financial advisory, forensic accounting & mediation | Nashville, TN & Sarasota, FL 🌐 freedomfsg.comWatch for the Freedom Team's upcoming Marriage Mastermind workshop in New York City — projected for early summer 2026.Resources mentioned:The Good Divorce by Karen McNennyThe Good Divorce Academy — online community & classroomthegooddivorcecoach.com
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  From Betrayal to Breakthrough: Understanding The Hidden Trauma Behind Divorce with Dr. Debi Silber 09.04.2026 51min

  In this powerful episode of The Good Divorce Show, host Karen McNenny sits down with Dr. Debi Silber — founder of the Post Betrayal Transformation Institute, creator of National Forgiveness Day, and one of the world's leading experts on betrayal recovery — to explore why betrayal is a distinct form of trauma, and what it actually takes to fully heal from it.Drawing on her groundbreaking PhD research and her own deeply personal experience, Dr. Debi shares the discoveries that transformed her understanding of betrayal — and the five proven, predictable stages that lead to genuine healing and transformation.In this episode, you'll learn:Why betrayal is a different type of trauma that requires a different approach to healingWhat Post Betrayal Syndrome is — and the staggering statistics behind how many people are living with its symptomsWhy "time heals all wounds" is a myth when it comes to betrayalThe five stages of Post Betrayal Transformation — and the most common place people get stuckThe difference between easily trusting and wisely trusting againHow self-betrayal shows up in our lives and relationshipsDr. Debi's own remarkable story — including rebuilding herself, her work, and ultimately her marriageWhether you're walking through divorce, navigating co-parenting, or supporting clients in transition, this episode offers a framework for understanding one of the most underrecognized forms of trauma — and a roadmap to genuine transformation.Resources mentioned:📘 Unstuck by Dr. Debi Silber (her newest book, for practitioners)📘 Trust Again by Dr. Debi Silber🎙️ Podcast: From Betrayal to Breakthrough🌐 Post Betrayal Transformation Institute: pbtinstitute.com📅 National Forgiveness Day: September 1st🏫 Betrayal Recovery Certification Program (for coaches and practitioners)Connect with Karen:📘 The Good Divorce — Karen's book on ending your marriage without ending your family💼 Work with Karen: thegooddivorcecoach.com
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  When Is It Okay to Start Dating? The Conversation Every Divorcing Couple Needs to Have 02.04.2026 18min

  One of the most overlooked — and potentially explosive — topics in divorce is also one of the most personal: when is it okay to start dating again? In this episode, Karen McNenny, divorce consultant and co-parent specialist, makes the case that the timing of that question matters less than whether both partners have actually agreed on the answer.Karen walks through real-life examples from her work with divorcing couples, illustrating how the element of surprise — a discovered laptop conversation, an unexpected guest at a lunch that "meant nothing," a high school reunion that quietly rewrote the rules — can undo months of cooperative progress and poison settlement negotiations. When one partner feels blindsided or embarrassed, even a fair-minded co-parent can suddenly dig in on the fishing boat.The takeaway isn't a rulebook; it's a framework. Think of it as red light, green light — identifying together what milestone triggers the green light on dating, and what boundaries (around discretion, the kids, the extended community) apply in the meantime. Karen also offers a gentle but honest reminder that the newly-single version of you, however hopeful and energized, may not yet be ready for a serious new relationship — and that giving one chapter a proper ending is the best gift you can give the next one.📚 If you're enjoying the podcast, be sure to grab Karen's new book: The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family
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  Finding Love After Divorce: How to Fix Your "Picker" and Date Smarter with Bela Gandhi 26.03.2026 40min

  Have you been wondering if love is still possible after divorce — and how to avoid repeating the same patterns? In this episode, Karen sits down with Bela Gandhi, renowned dating and relationship expert and founder of the Smart Dating Academy, to talk about how to approach dating after divorce with intention, self-awareness, and real strategy.Bela shares why most people's "people pickers" are broken — and why that's not your fault. She breaks down the three root causes (evolution, family of origin, and cultural messaging), explains why butterflies and grand gestures are actually red flags in disguise, and walks us through the proven system that has produced zero divorces among Smart Dating Academy clients in 15 years.In this episode you'll hear about:Why readiness to date is about the work you've done, not the time that's passedThe dating funnel, red flags, and why 15 dates before exclusivity is the ruleWhen and how to introduce a new partner to your childrenThe brain chemistry of falling in love — and why pacing protects youWhat to expect working with the Smart Dating AcademyConnect with Bella Gandhi:Podcast: Smart Dating Academy PodcastWebsite: smartdatingacademy.comInstagram: @SmartDatingAcademy 📚 If you're enjoying the podcast, be sure to grab Karen's new book: The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family
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  The Association That Has Your Back: Child Support Insurance, Divorce Benefits & Community with NASDF Founder Ron Platt 19.03.2026 44min

  What if you could actually insure your child support and alimony? In this episode, Karen sits down with Ron Platt, co-founder of the National Association for Single and Divorced Families (NASDF), to introduce a first-of-its-kind organization built to support people at every stage of divorce — before, during, and long after the paperwork is signed. Ron shares the origin story of NASDF's groundbreaking insurance product, which is designed to guarantee child support and alimony payments in the event of death, disability, or involuntary unemployment — a concept 30 years in the making that his late father first dreamed up.But before we get to the business, Ron gets personal. As a child of divorce himself, he shares a surprisingly warm story of immigrant parents whose relationship actually improved after their marriage ended — a real-life example of "the good divorce." Ron also opens up about his own painful 14-year relationship, his journey through grief and therapy, and how he ultimately did the work to break old patterns and find unconditional love. His story is a reminder that divorce, as hard as it is, can be the catalyst for profound personal growth.Beyond insurance, Ron paints an ambitious vision for NASDF as the "Costco of associations" — a growing membership community that aims to negotiate discounts on everything from diapers and daycare to car purchases and legal fees for divorced and single-parent families. He also touches on their advocacy work in foster care reform and their commitment to serving all families — men and women, same-sex couples, and those "married by mortgage." Find NASDF at nasdf.org and, as Ron puts it: there is light at the end of the tunnel, but you gotta do the work.📚 If you're enjoying the podcast, be sure to grab Karen's new book: The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family
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  Two Homes, One Team: How to Make Co-Parenting Life Run Smoothly 12.03.2026 14min

  Living across two homes doesn't have to feel like navigating a minefield — but it does take intention, communication, and a willingness to loosen your grip a little. In this episode of The Good Divorce Show, Karen McNenny gets practical about the day-to-day logistics of co-parenting, sharing real strategies that make life smoother for both parents and kids. Karen introduces the "boomerang 🪃 folder" — a simple but powerful tool for keeping both co-parents in the loop on everything from permission slips to test grades — and explains why letting both parents celebrate (and address) school milestones together matters more than you might think. She also tackles the gear question: how to handle belongings moving between homes without turning your kids into little luggage carriers. From Sunday transition timing to flexible residential schedules, Karen makes the case that the best co-parenting plans aren't rigid — they're rooted in relationship. When Uncle Bob and Aunt Betty come to town, or a work conference throws the calendar off, a foundation of mutual respect means you can actually problem-solve instead of power-struggle. At the heart of this episode is Karen's core philosophy: divorce is a family event first and a legal event second. Stabilize the family, protect the co-parent relationship, and the logistics — schedules, gear, transitions, and all — become so much more manageable. 📚 If you're enjoying the podcast, be sure to grab Karen's new book: The Good Divorce: How to End Your Marriage Without Ending Your Family