About me
The #1 Certified Divorce Coach® for international families
I hold both a Masters in Law and a Masters in International Affairs, and I spent nearly 20 years working in the City of London leading high-stakes international business negotiations. In that time, I learned how to communicate sensitively under pressure, de-escalate conflict, deal with difficult counterparts and find solutions even in the most challenging situations.
After years of a successful career in the corporate world, I realised I wanted my work to have a real purpose: to help people avoid the negative impacts of a high conflict divorce on their family by learning how to reach fair and sustainable agreements out of court. I decided to train as a Certified Divorce Coach and launch my own business.
Years later, I have become an award-winning coach and am the author of the Amazon bestseller book Don’t Screw Up Your Divorce.
I specialise in supporting international families through separation and have had the privilege of working with hundreds of individuals worldwide. I combine my legal background, negotiation expertise, and personal experience of international divorce to help my clients build a better future for themselves and their children.
Inspired by my own experience of co-parenting from a distance, I have become the only divorce coach with specific expertise in long-distance parenting planning, and I get great pleasure from helping families manage this particularly complex aspect of international separation.
"I wish I had come to you earlier in the process."
Jennifer Y., British national living in France
My personal divorce story
I have personally experienced divorce twice, in two very different ways. The first time was when my children’s father and I divorced after 6 years of marriage. It was one of the easiest divorce scenario I’ve ever encountered: we both agreed to the divorce, we owned no property or assets and earned exactly the same amount. This straightforward context, along with effective communication, contributed greatly to us finding an agreement relatively easily, spending a total of £1000 on a joint lawyer. My ex then moved into a house down the street and we started our new lives.
My second experience with divorce, surprisingly, was with the same person!
We had been divorced about 5 years when he suddenly moved abroad without warning. Needless to say, this iteration of the financial and child arrangements negotiations was a lot less amicable. We struggled with decisions about jurisdiction of course, but what caused the most issues was the total lack of direct communication and trust between us. Tens of thousands of pounds later on both sides, we ended up with an agreement that we probably could have achieved by simply sitting down together and discussing the new situation.
Given my story, I guess it is not surprising that friends (and friends of friends) had been coming to me for years asking for advice and guidance on their divorce. This led me to found Divorce Differently and dedicate my time to a mission that deeply matters to me: providing people with the information, skills and support they need to reach divorce agreements out of court.
Training & Experience
Training
- CDC Certified Divorce Coach® (the international Professional standard for Personal Divorce Coaching)
- Non Court Dispute Resolution (NCDR) professional
- Masters in Law, University of Paris Pantheon-Assas
- Fully Accredited Diploma in Relationship Counselling
- Introduction to Psychology, Yale University
- EY Managing Change qualification:
- Leading people through periods of transition
- Understanding the physical impact of change and how to navigate it with the right mindset
- Understanding the science behind change
Experience
- Significant experience dealing with the specific challenges of international divorce: juridiction choice, moving the children back to home country, lack of local family support, ex spouses living in different countries…
- Personal experience of divorce proceedings in the UK, France and the US.
- First hand experience in amicable and conflictual divorce, long distance coparenting, and blended families.
- Extensive understanding of the challenges of expatriate, multi-cultural relationships and international divorces and separations.
- 17 years experience as a Management Consultant leading complex international business negotiations.
Awards
My memberships
I am an active member of a number of professional organisations
In my clients' words
