We’ve all heard the statistic that says 50 percent of marriages end in divorce. Additionally, a person who is divorced once is more likely to divorce in their second marriage. However, numbers only tell part of the story. A subsequent effect of divorce is the creation of blended families as parents with children from previous marriages build a household together. The dynamics of a blended family are different from a traditional nuclear family because more than one set of parents and children must now be considered in arrangements.

After divorce, parents may seek to come together to develop a co-parenting agreement. These co-parenting agreements allow both spouses to remain involved in their children’s lives. While there may be some awkwardness at first, parents that work together to foster a collaborative parenting environment can be beneficial for their kids. Studies have found that children with parents that have a co-parenting agreement in place have less anxiety and greater emotional wellbeing. While there are some stressors managing a co-parenting agreement from day to day, those stressors become amplified during the holiday season.

When thinking about assets like money, it’s relatively easy to divide it among the two spouses during a divorce. While there may be disagreements about how much each spouse is entitled to, the actual act of division can be straightforward. Other assets are harder to divide. This is especially true when it comes to the house that you and your spouse own. For many couples, the house is also the single largest piece of marital property that needs to be divided.