Breaking Up Solvent: A Woman's Guide to Financial Security

Susan Thomas is a middle-school guidance counselor, teacher, anad social
worker in Milton, Ontario.

The dawning of financial savvy by North American women has been a slow
but consistent process over recent years. The new awareness has grown
with the increasing incidence of divorce. Certainly there is need for a
concise and informative guide for women caught up with juggling the
tasks created by the crisis of separation: mothering, re-establishing
financially and emotionally, and finding their place in the work world.
Breaking Up Solvent attempts to identify the financial and legal
implications of separation and divorce. The text includes chapters on
finding a lawyer and a financial adviser, taking inventory of current
assets and debts, budgeting, credit, wills, insurance, and the “tough
stuff” of divorce (custody, support, and division of assets). The
authors extend their overview to cover investments, retirement plans,
and marriage contracts or cohabitation agreements.

The advice presented in the book is organized around the story of a
naпve young mother who is reluctant to take an honest look at her
failed relationship. Unfortunately, Kingsmill and Stuart have not
decided whether they are writing a maudlin romance novel or a self-help
book. The story as told by the cleaning lady/financial planner is rife
with generalizations, corrupt or inept male figures, patronizing humor,
and a mass of legal and financial information that not only overwhelms
the leading lady but also threatens to bore and confuse the reader. The
book excludes common-law and gay/lesbian relationships and neglects the
needs of those who have had to leave abusive or addicted spouses.

Appended summary information about provincial family property laws is
useful, though the reader needs to be alert to the possibility of
revisions in law. Regrettably lacking is a list of community-based
resources such as legal clinics, mediation services, or women’s
centres. This book is not recommended.