You have arrived at a decision: you want a divorce, or you are seriously thinking about it. Or perhaps your spouse has made that decision for you, and now you are forced to think about how to protect yourself. Regardless of who initiated it, the decision to divorce is rarely a sudden one. Perhaps when you look in the mirror each morning, you say to yourself, “”I need to get out of this marriage. It is no longer working, and it is beyond repair. I need to start a new life.”” Or maybe your spouse has made that decision for the both of you. One thing is certain-we all want to stay in love forever. However, this is not always the reality. In fact, nearly 50 percent of all marriages in the United States will end in divorce. Nobody wants to be part of this statistic; nevertheless, when all hope for reconciliation is gone, sometimes divorce is the only avenue for recapturing the life you deserve.