u/Dry-Leg-9948

My wife and I are getting separated. Selling our house and going to live separately, continue marriage counseling. Try to be friendly and spend lots of time together with our kids.

All sounds good and all that but let's be real: 80% chance that this will end in a divorce.

Our counselor gave us a "separation planning" document. I completed the work same night, which basically helps us to establish clear expectations about what this separation is and what it is not.

She has not even looked at it several weeks later.

We are selling our house and splitting the equity. I want to make sure that when I re-invest that money, the investment is protected. Who knows what she will do with her share. But I assume if we divorce, if one person goes into debt while the other makes wide decisions, i would not want to be responsible for her post-separation liabilities.

Would a legal separation agreement and/or post-nup be a good idea here? I do want to give the separation a try but I'm really not confident about her real intentions.

My wife and I are currently separating, but I'm thinking about filing for divorce and skipping the intermediate step. The separation was her idea. I don't know her reasoning, but I suspect it may be to wait out my startup — which is just starting to show revenue potential — so she could claim part of it later. I don't want to assume the worst, but I do want to protect what I'm building.

Otherwise, our situation is pretty simple. We're selling the house and splitting the equity. She earns more than I do as of 8 months ago when I lost my W-2 job. I now run a business that's beginning to produce. We have two kids and no custody disputes — she's a great mom, I'm a great dad. She travels often for work and we have no family nearby, so she is going to depend on me to be here when she travels, and I'm happy to do that.

I don't need a shark. I need someone who can set fair boundaries for both of us. And one that protects me from losing everything I'm working so hard for.

No idea what a retainer looks like for something like this — I'm guessing around $3K?

Open to recommendations.