I am not a lawyer; I am survivor of a divorce that to a great extent was resolved amicably because my lawyer/partner and I adhered to the principles and rules I put forth in this book. I derived the principles and rules from my experience, conversations with my lawyer/partner, observations of several friends as they meandered and muddled through their divorce proceedings, and from written cases that were similar to mine, all of which I found to be instructive, some of which I found to be bizarre as well. All of that doesn't detract one bit from the validity of the principles and rules I so fearlessly put forth, and I hope that you and your spouse heed them-with the consent of your lawyers, of course.