Episode 206: Navigating Divorce When You Have Children with Special Needs with Josh Kershenbaum, Esq.

Mar 2, 2023

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This week, special needs consultant, advisor, and mediator Josh Kershenbaum, Esq., joins me to discuss navigating divorce when you have children with special needs. We touch on the challenges divorcing parents of children with disabilities face, the most common pitfalls and how to avoid them, and how to best advocate for your child now and in the future.

Josh Kershenbaum, Esq., is a dedicated Peacemaker with extensive training and experience in both Mediation and Collaborative Law. He earned certifications in both Negotiation and Mediation at Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation and trained in Divorce & Family Mediation with mediation luminaries Forrest ("Woody") Mosten and Susan Guthrie at the Mosten Guthrie Academy, where he is now on the training faculty.

Featured topics include:

When parents don't agree about a child's special needs or one parent disagrees that a child even has special needs or a disability (8:59)
The family court system is not set up to handle divorce when there are children with special needs (14:17)
How to advocate for your children's needs during a high-conflict divorce (18:53)
The importance of planning for the long-term needs of your children—will they need ongoing care, a special needs trust, or other specific provisions for their unique situation? (28:23)
"If you can build a flexible divorce agreement, it will serve you and your children well." (38:01)
Part of having a child-centered divorce is acknowledging the decisions you make today will have an impact on your children even years after your divorce (43:13)
There are ways to go through a divorce that keep co-parents in control, such as mediation and collaborative divorce (50:21)

Learn more about Josh Kershenbaum, Esq.

Josh Kershenbaum, Esq., is a dedicated Peacemaker with extensive training and experience in both Mediation and Collaborative Law. He earned certifications in both Negotiation and Mediation at Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation and completed additional Mediation training through the CORA/Good Shepherd Mediation Program. Josh trained in Divorce & Family Mediation with mediation luminaries Forrest ("Woody") Mosten and Susan Guthrie at the Mosten Guthrie Academy, where he is now on the training faculty. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania Council of Mediators. Josh has presented at professional conferences across the country, most recently for the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP), the Academy of Special Needs Planners (ASNP), the Council for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Education (CADRE), the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), as well as for numerous professional and community organizations. He has been a guest on several programs on National Public Radio, and on the popular podcasts, Divorce and Beyond (Susan Guthrie) and Good Law Bad Law (Aaron Freiwald). Josh began his legal career at Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, LLC in Philadelphia. He went on to found of Pennsylvania's premier law firms dedicated to representing the legal rights of children with special needs. Josh later served as Senior Counsel for ADR for one of the region's most well-respected family law firms, before returning to solo-practice as a Mediator and Collaborative divorce professional. He earned his law degree, cum laude, from Temple University's Beasley School of Law and his B.A., a magna cum laude, from Amherst College. Before practicing law, Josh was a public school teacher in Newton, Massachusetts, and served as a Board member for Greater Boston PFLAG. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his family of five humans and three rescue cats.

Resources & Links:

Information and resources may also be found at: https://kateanthony.com/podcast/navigating-divorce-when-you-have-children-with-special-needs-with-josh-kershenbaum-esq/

Register to join the next Coffee Clatch with Kate on March 14th! Grit & Grace Coaching Program Josh on LinkedIn Connect with Josh: Jkershenbaum(at)gmail.com

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