harsh reality
First time poster here, been lurking for a while... Great place btw
I will re emphasize a few things and add some. From personal experience, unfortunately...
You will be on an emotional rollercoaster for a few months or longer. Try to keep it "strictly business" as much as possible.
Don't buy into the divorce scenarios from the 70's and 80's where you get your kids only on weekends, or only occasionally. You can get 'em 50% of the time if that's what you want.
If you are just a "middle class" dude (like me)...meaning you don't have serious high-dollar assets and property, etc., you'll be better off limiting your use of lawyers. Me and my ex used NO attorneys. This was after the wise advice of a few different people who spent huge, vast amounts of time and $ on a big war with lawyers....and ended up basically with the exact same end result as if they had done it themselves and divided everything up (including parenting time) reasonably themselves. You can download sep. agreements, etc. free from the internet and fill in the blanks. Again, if you have a home in Aspen and a million in the bank, you'll need an attorney.
That said, pay close attention to assets and debts. I came out fairly well as far as equity in house, cars, belongings...but in hindsight, for example, I had 10 grand left on student loans that she would've been on the hook for half. Pensions and 410K's, need looked at, too...
Beware the drink. If you have been the "family guy" with kids around on nights & weekends for the last 10 years, you suddenly have a big void to fill by yourself. Find other stuff to do, a casual FB relationship (don't get serious and beware women that want to give you the world after a month) but don't start picking up a bottle on the way home from work. Especially bad now when it's dark at 5 p.m.
Try to cut all ties with the ex other than "strictly business" re. kids. Unless she's a toad, she'll be able to find guys to cling on to her (usually borderline losers and hump & dump situations) and even if you have your own FB or GF, it'll stir up your negative emotions visiting, talking. So, as much as humanly possible, stay away, don't talk to her, don't ask the kids about her. Yeah, one-in-a-million people can divorce and be "buddies/best friends" but there is often a lot of bitterness/animosity that is best avoided with a clean break.
Spend a lot of quality time with your kids.
Anyway, this is a great place, sosuave. and for you lurkers out there, esp recently single, middle age, I can tell you that all the info here in the bible, etc. is 80 - 90% truth. The way women are, what they do and why, the way you should interact with them, what to do and what to avoid, work hard at being a "DJ" and realize that like anything in life, it's a long process with a learning curve but in the 2 yrs since I was suddenly cast adrift in my early 40's, wondering "WTF do I do now...I haven't 'dated' for 17 fukking years?!?!?!?!" The last few months of lurking on SoSuave have set me straight in many ways and I'm already seeing results in my quality of life...thanks to all and I hope to participate here occasionally (with shorter posts than this)...