Last weeks column dealt with a mothers query about the age at which children are given considerable sway by the court in determining how much time they spend with each of their divorced parents. Her two children, aged 12 and 14, were resisting spending the time with their father provided for in the court approved parenting plan.

One of the hardest things about divorce is its cost, not just emotionally and psychologically, but in cold hard cash. A typical scenario is a husband, wife and two attorneys. Add the expense of outside experts if there are disputes over who can better parent their children or the valuation of an asset such as a business that one or both owns, and the bottom line is fees well into five figures for each party.