The Dispatch
No XLVIII · Separation · 5 min
The first 30 days after she says it's over
A blunt field guide to the first month after the conversation. Sleep, paperwork, the kids, and the part nobody warns you about.
No XLVII · SEPARATION
The conversation you saw coming
How to start the talk you've been rehearsing in the shower for six months. A practical guide to the words, the room, the aftermath.
25 Apr 2026 · 4 min
No XLVI · SEPARATION
The conversation you didn't
When she ends it and you didn't see it coming. The first 72 hours, the stories you'll tell yourself, and what to actually do.
25 Apr 2026 · 4 min
No XLV · SEPARATION
Ten questions to ask yourself before you decide
A self-interrogation guide for the man considering ending his marriage. Not advice. Questions. The hard ones, in order.
25 Apr 2026 · 5 min
No XLIV · SEPARATION
Signs the marriage is failing: explained
The patterns that show up before the conversation does. Not a checklist of doom, a checklist of honesty. Read it slowly.
25 Apr 2026 · 5 min
No XLIII · SEPARATION
Moving out without burning it down
The logistics of the first move. What to take, what to leave, what to document, and how to keep the kids steady through it.
25 Apr 2026 · 5 min
No XLII · SEPARATION
The first week of living alone
The unfamiliar quiet of a flat that isn't yet home. A practical and honest guide to the first seven days on your own.
25 Apr 2026 · 4 min
No XLI · SEPARATION
Separation vs divorce in Australia, the bit nobody explains
What separation actually is in Australian law, why divorce is the easy bit, and where the real money and time goes. Plain English.
25 Apr 2026 · 5 min
No XL · DIVORCE
What divorce actually costs in Australia
The real cost of divorce isn't the filing fee. It's the eighteen months of lawyer hours, missed work, and the second mortgage you didn't see coming.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXIX · DIVORCE
Mediation vs court, which path fits you
Mediation works when you both still want to be reasonable. Court is what you do when one of you stops. Pick honestly.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXVIII · DIVORCE
How to prepare for mediation, properly
Mediation isn't a conversation. It's an exam. The blokes who walk in prepared walk out with a deal they can live with.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXVII · DIVORCE
The divorce paperwork walkthrough
Divorce in Australia is one application, one fee, one hearing you might not even have to attend. The actual hard paperwork is everything else.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXVI · DIVORCE
Settlement, what a fair deal actually looks like
Fair isn't 50/50. Fair is the s79 four-step process applied honestly. Most blokes don't know what they're entitled to or what they're giving up.
25 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXV · DIVORCE
Protecting your assets without being a prick
There's a clean version of asset protection that's just good record-keeping and disclosure. Then there's the version that ends careers. Stay in the first one.
25 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXIV · DIVORCE
Prenups, postnups, and binding financial agreements
BFAs aren't just for the rich. They're a tool, with a price tag, a procedure, and a real-world strike rate that nobody quotes you upfront.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXIII · DIVORCE
The essential steps when divorce is coming
The 90 days before separation are worth more than the next 18 months combined. Here's the order of operations that actually matters.
25 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXXII · CO-PARENTING
Telling the kids, by age
How to tell children their parents are separating, calibrated to age. What works at 4 won't land at 14, and pretending otherwise hurts.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXXI · CO-PARENTING
50/50 or not, the honest conversation
Equal-time parenting sounds fair on paper. The honest version is messier, and the kids' age and your geography matter more than ideology.
25 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXX · CO-PARENTING
Father custody rights in Australia, in plain English
What Australian family law actually says about fathers and custody, with the 2024 reforms factored in. No mythology, no scare stories.
25 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXIX · CO-PARENTING
Child support, the formula explained
How Services Australia calculates child support: the eight steps, what each parent's income does to the number, and the result.
25 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXVIII · CO-PARENTING
Co-parenting apps actually worth using
The three apps separated parents pick, what each does well, and why the right answer depends on how much conflict you're managing.
26 Apr 2026 · 6 min
No XXVII · CO-PARENTING
The step-by-step guide for divorced dads
A 12-month playbook for the practical stuff: emotional, parental, financial, legal. In the order you'll actually need it.
26 Apr 2026 · 9 min
No XXVI · MENTAL HEALTH
Finding the right therapist (as a man who's never tried)
Cancelled my first session twice. Here's the practical map I wish I'd had before I sat in the car park rehearsing what to say.
26 Apr 2026 · 7 min
No XXV · MENTAL HEALTH
The emotional stages of divorce, and how each one breaks you
Denial, grief, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. They cycle like weather. What each stage feels like, and what helps.
26 Apr 2026 · 8 min
No XXIV · MENTAL HEALTH
Loneliness after divorce, ten things that actually help
Bought a hose fitting I didn't need just to talk to the bloke at Bunnings. Ten things that moved the needle on post-divorce loneliness.
26 Apr 2026 · 8 min