Links to Useful Sites

Divorce Information and Services

Self-Help Law Books | Legal Research

Families and Parenting | Mediation

Financial | Taxes | Social Security

Public and Consumer Information

Vital Statistics Records

Credit Check

Get your credit report — Check all debts listed against your name at national credit bureaus, payment history, credit standing. Make sure your divorce settles all debt issues and that you know what you have to do to establish good credit in your own name.

Divorce Information and Services:

Divorce Helpline — For California cases, this is your best source for legal information, advice, coaching, mediation, negotiation, arbitration, problem solving, settlement agreements and paperwork. These top-quality family law attorneys won't go to cour but will guide you through it the best way possible short of litigation.

National Association of Legal Document Preparers — Members are listed state-by-state. They have members in most states and it is quick and easy to check your state and see if anyone near you is listed.

Fresh Start After Divorce Community — A site designed to empower women during and after divorce to regain their confidence, build self-esteem and create a foundation of life skills to enhance and improve the quality of life for themselves and their children.

International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers — An organization of lawyers dedicated to high standards of ethics and peaceful solutions for problems. They don't have members in every state, but it is quick and easy to check your state to see if anyone near you is listed.

Find a Lawyer — Lawyers.com, a service of the Martindale-Hubbel directory, has 420,000 lawyer biographies and law firm descriptions plus information about the law and the legal system.

Divorce Magazine — Offers a rich set of links to divorce information, services and resources, state-by-state and Canada, too!

Family Law Today (California) — Issues in Family Law: numerous articles and interactive bulletin boards on child and spousal support, custody and visitation, retirement, and more, maintained by the Law Offices of James P. Reape, Valencia.

Divorce As Friends — Learn how to end conflict, heal hurt, and if necessary, part as friends. The author of this site was featured on Oprah for his work in divorce.

Children's Rights Council — "The Best Parent is Both Parents."
National Fatherhood Initiative
Kiersey Temperament Sorter — Understanding your (and your spouse's) temperament may help you decide the best way to negotiate.

The Transition Institute of Marin — Divorce support for people in Marin County, San Francisco, Sonoma and the entire Bay Area.

Self-Help Law Books:

Nolo Press Occidental — The best self-help divorce books and software.

Nolo Press — The best self-help legal books on other areas of the law.

Legal Research:

California Courts — Administrative Office of the Courts: Rules, court info, Judicial Council forms, and more.

Find California Codes and Statutes — Legislative Counsel Site: Search all California Codes by Code and/or keyword.

California Legislative Information — FTP site for Assembly and Senate Bills, codes, and California Constitution. Both existing law and pending legislation.

U Mass Hypercourse on Law in Cyberspace — University of Massachusetts provides a short course on doing Internet legal research.

World Wide Web Virtual Law Library — Indiana University School of Law provides one of the most complete law libraries on the Internet. Includes statutory law of most states.

LawGuru.Com - Internet Law Library — links to statutes and law-related material on the Internet.

Cornell University Family Law database — Family Law section of Cornell University's WWW Law Library.

Legal Information Institute Cornell Law School — Links to many legal resources on the World Wide Web, sponsored by Cornell University Law School.

Law Mall — Lots of interesting stuff, including material on virtual law firms and a book on working for a small business.

Families and Parenting:

Joint Custody and Shared Parenting — The Children's Rights Council of Maryland has collected information on joint custody and shared parenting, valid in all states, including: latest research findings, personal experiences of parents and children, custody statistics, recommended schedules for shared parenting.

Shared Parenting Information Group — Excellent resource for parenting after divorce. Site based in England (UK), but parenting is the same everywhere. Take a look.

Mediation:

10 Reasons to Try Divorce Mediation — Article in Self-Help Psychology Magazine.

Mediation Training — Want to be a mediator? Check out the Coast to Coast Mediation Center web site. Our staff have trained there and we can tell you they are good!.

Financial:

Pension Information — Wiser (Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement) is dedicated to educating women about retirement issues, but the law is gender-neutral, so there's plenty here for men, too.

Consumer Credit Counseling — Free counseling provided by credit bureaus to help get out of debt.

IQ InsuranceQuote Services

Taxes:

Internal Revenue Service — Tons of tax information for individuals and businesses with links to IRS information pamphlets.

Internal Revenue Code

Social Security:

Social Security Administration

Public and Consumer Information:

HALT: Americans for legal reform. Lots of material on self-help law and rights of consumers of legal service. HALT is dedicated to the principle that all Americans should be able to handle their legal affairs simply, affordably and equitably.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families

Vital Statistics Records:

Vital Records Information — Links to Vital Statistics information in every state and territory. Great site, but for some reason, not accessible through some Internet Service Providers.

California Department of Vital Statistics — California vital statistics records.