In this episode of 5 Fresh Tips, Kristina Heckel, CDFA®, CFEI®, shares five practical divorce financial tips for getting organized and protecting your financial future. Kristina is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, the principal and founder of Bloom Divorce Advisory Services in Arizona, and a Fresh Starts expert. Through settlement scenario modeling and financial education, she helps clients understand the financial side of divorce, and her tips apply whether you're considering divorce, navigating the process, or rebuilding afterward.

Kristina's first three tips focus on organization. Tip one is to take yourself on a monthly "money date": set aside undisturbed time to review income, spending, and forgotten subscriptions, using paper statements or a budgeting app. Tip two, "grace with a plan," is a strategy for decision fatigue: pause, sort what is time-sensitive from what can wait, and track deadlines in a calendar system that works for you. Tip three is to build your paper trail before anyone asks for it. Gathering what you own, what you owe, account statements, tax records, and free consumer reports before you hire an attorney can save you money in billable hours. Kristina also introduces Bloom's Vault Kit, an organizing system for these documents.

Tips four and five cover the settlement and what comes after it. Tip four, "not every dollar is the same," explains why liquid cash, after-tax dollars, and tax-deferred retirement dollars carry different value depending on your income and needs, and why dividing a 401(k) requires a separate domestic relations order that is drafted, signed by a judge, and approved by the plan administrator. Tip five, "the paperwork after the paperwork," is a post-divorce checklist: beneficiary changes, deed transfers, utilities, retitling, and refinancing, some of which come with strict deadlines that vary by jurisdiction. Listeners will come away with a clear, step-by-step plan for the financial side of divorce.

Connect with Kristina Heckel and Bloom Divorce Advisory Services:

🌐 Bloom Divorce Advisory Services (including the Vault Kit and the Bloom Forward community): https://www.bloomdas.com

📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloomdivorceadvisory/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-heckel/

💙 Fresh Starts expert profile: https://freshstartsregistry.com/resourceguide/bloom-divorce-advisory-services

🔗 Check out Fresh Starts Registry:

The first & only divorce registry + support platform ➡ https://www.freshstartsregistry.com/

📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freshstartsregistry/

📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreshStartsRegistry

In this episode of 5 Fresh Tips, licensed therapist and author Meredith Beardmore shares practical, expert-backed strategies for parents navigating divorce recovery when substance use is part of the family picture. Meredith is the author of Hey Addiction, Thanks for Nothing and The Plan B Chronicles: Divorce, Defiance, Liberation, and the creator of the Sobriety Parenting Plan Intensive, a framework that helps parents build child-centered custody agreements when addiction complicates co-parenting. Drawing on years of clinical experience, she brings a rare combination of therapeutic insight and practical legal literacy to a topic many parents feel they have to navigate alone.

Meredith’s tips focus on turning uncertainty into a clear action plan. She explains why meeting with a sobriety parenting plan consultant before your attorney is one of the most cost-effective divorce recovery tips available, since arriving prepared with clearly named concerns and proposed language keeps billable hours focused on strategy rather than untangling the situation from scratch. She also reframes what actually counts as a red flag: missed pickups, forgotten responsibilities, and subtle shifts in presence are patterns worth naming, not incidents you have to justify as a full-blown crisis. And for parents worried about raising the issue, she offers a reassuring litmus test — a sobriety clause costs a genuinely sober co-parent nothing, while resistance to accountability is itself valuable information.

For listeners who feel stuck, Meredith addresses one of the most common fears head-on: you do not have to choose between leaving and protecting your children. She outlines the two clauses she considers non-negotiable in any parenting plan involving substance use — a strict no-driving-after-drinking policy and a written relapse response protocol — so safeguards travel with the kids even when she isn't in the room. It's a grounded, actionable episode for anyone building emotional resilience and starting over after divorce, offering co-parenting strategies that protect a child's safety and a parent's peace of mind at the same time.