Before the Next Step

A first trip, a shared lease, closing the distance, a ring: a bigger step is in front of you.

This book is for the conversations that come before it. It covers the holidays with two families, who moves and whose career leads, what moving in means to each of you, merging money, joining a family that already exists, children, engagement, and a partner who keeps saying "not yet." Most worksheets are filled in alone, then compared, so one answer doesn't shape the other.

Inside you'll find:

• A money disclosure sheet and a household accounts table
• The how-and-when grid for children, and a room-by-room plan for two homes' worth of things
• Scripts for "What does this mean to you?" and for an honest limit that isn't an ultimatum
• Questions to take to a lawyer or a doctor before you decide

There are 64 tools in all: 28 worksheets, 19 checklists and 17 scripts, collected again in the toolkit at the back.

Written so you can hand it to the other person when you're ready.

This is Book 4 of A Clarity4Couples Guide, eight books that follow a relationship from wanting one to the year after it ends. It's for reflection and general information, not therapy or professional advice.

Created with generative AI and edited by the author.