CREDIT CHECK
Get your credit report — Check all debts listed against your name at national credit bureaus, your payment history, and your 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 court but will guide you through it the best way possible short of litigation.

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 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 Personality Test — Understanding your (and your spouse’s) temperament may help you decide the best way to negotiate. Take the test for you and then on behalf of your Ex. Suggest that your Ex try this, too. After the test, follow the links to Wikipedia articles to understand how your personality types interact and how best to deal with yourself and the kind of person your Ex is.

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 — Find California statutes by code number or keyword.

California Legislative Information — Search for Assembly and Senate Bills by Bill number or keywords. Both existing law and pending legislation.

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

California Divorce Mediation — An explanation of California divorce mediation and how it works, by California attorney/mediator Charma Pipersky

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 Insurance Quote 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
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.