A field guide for people without a lawyer
Every state in this country makes divorcing spouses put their financial lives on paper, under oath, before a judge will finalize the case. You cannot opt out of it and you cannot negotiate around it. Most people fill it in like a chore, and hand the court a document that quietly works against them for the rest of the case.
53 pages. Written by a divorce attorney who has spent thirty-four years in family court, one practice area the whole time.
What you are buying
So the judge believes you even if you don't have an attorney. A field guide for pro se divorce litigants.
Why this document decides so much
A judge meets you through this document before you ever speak. If the numbers do not tie to anything, every other thing you say gets read in that light. If they do tie, you become the person in the room whose figures can be trusted.
They treat the statement as the boring part to get past, so they can reach the conversations that feel like they matter. That instinct is understandable and it costs them.
Court staff cannot give legal advice and a form's instructions cannot tell you how a judge actually reads the thing. Self-represented people are left to guess.
The statement shapes support, division and credibility. A number you cannot stand behind on page one is a number opposing counsel will find on page one.
What is inside
53 pages, delivered as a PDF the moment you check out. Read it tonight.
Who it is for
This is not for you if you are hoping to hear that leading with emotion, or trusting that your feelings will be understood by a judge, is a winning strategy. In Tracy's experience it is not. That does not mean your story does not matter. It means your story has to be translated into something a judge, who hears dozens of stories in a day, can actually use.
Who wrote it
Tracy Galloway began her legal career representing a state child welfare agency, in court nearly every day on cases involving allegations of abuse and neglect. She moved into private practice after several years, first on her own, then in a ten-year law partnership, and since 2013 as the founder of Galloway Law & Consulting. She was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1992 and has kept one practice area the whole time.
She also holds a graduate degree in psychoanalysis, which gave her a second lens on how people communicate under stress and how judges, who are people doing a demanding job, actually take in information and use it. She is the daughter of divorced parents and a divorced parent herself. This guide came out of watching self-represented litigants walk into courtrooms unaware of how much they could do with a few principles and a form they already have to file.
One caveat, in her words. This guide reflects the professional opinions and experience of one attorney, licensed in Massachusetts, built over more than three decades of practice. Laws and procedures governing financial statements, disclosure, marital versus separate property, and divorce generally vary significantly from state to state.
Nothing in it is legal advice for your situation, and nothing about buying it creates an attorney-client relationship. Please consult a licensed attorney in your own state before making decisions about your case.
Ready when you are
Seventeen dollars and an evening of reading, against a document that will shape support, division and how much of what you say gets believed.
Get the booklet · $17Instant download after checkout. The guide is written for readers in any state. Tracy represents clients in Massachusetts only.
