The Upspring

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The Upspring Hi, I'm Marnie. I'm a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner who provides mediation with specific support to separated parents who need to get on with life.

Waiting on disclosure is one of the things I’m hearing most at the moment, and with the year closing in, the waiting is ...
17/10/2026

Waiting on disclosure is one of the things I’m hearing most at the moment, and with the year closing in, the waiting is getting expensive. Most lawyers and valuers are away for much of January, so a settlement that’s “on hold until the documents come” can easily lose the whole summer.

Disclosure tells you what’s in the pool. Everything else is yours to build today, including what you need, where you’d live, your floor and your own first number. When the documents land, you’ll be checking them against your own picture and ready to move. Your lawyer can tell you exactly what you’re entitled to ask for and how to follow it up.

Save this for the next time you catch yourself thinking it’s all on hold.

This is the kind of thinking I share in Your Upspring, my weekly email for when you're separating and you haven’t settled yet. Subscribe by visiting my website or tap the link in my bio.

It's Wednesday, the offer has a Friday deadline on it, and the weekend you'd saved for thinking has become the weekend y...
15/10/2026

It's Wednesday, the offer has a Friday deadline on it, and the weekend you'd saved for thinking has become the weekend you have to decide.
Before you reply, ask what makes Friday the date. If there's a real reason, you plan around something solid. If there isn't, you've taken the air out of it and your timeline is your own again.
Save this for the next time a date lands in your inbox, and if someone you love is in the middle of a separation, send it to them.
This is one issue of Your Upspring, my weekly email for separating parents who haven't settled yet. Subscribe at theupspring.com.au/newsletter, or tap the link in my bio.

Picture the week before Christmas in a year when the arrangements were agreed early. Your child knows where they'll wake...
13/10/2026

Picture the week before Christmas in a year when the arrangements were agreed early. Your child knows where they'll wake up on the 25th, handover is written down, and your phone has been quiet all evening.

The families who get that December may get along no better than anyone else.

They simply agreed the details while there was still time to think, to ask for what was important, to counter-propose alternatives, and sort it out calmly.

It's October now, so there's room. If you'd like help getting Christmas agreed this year, book a free and confidential 30-minute call with me.

A figure arrives by text or through a lawyer, and before you've had time to think, you're already working from it. When ...
12/10/2026

A figure arrives by text or through a lawyer, and before you've had time to think, you're already working from it. When you don't have your own number, theirs becomes the centre of gravity.

Even professional property valuers are pulled toward the first figure they're shown, so willpower alone won't protect you. What does help is having your own number ready beforehand, built from your asset pool and what your life requires. My free STEER workbook walks you through what to do at your own kitchen table, and you'll find it on my profile.

Two weeks of holidays were halved and nobody argued. Christmas holidays run five weeks plus, and the days inside them a...
02/10/2026

Two weeks of holidays were halved and nobody argued. Christmas holidays run five weeks plus, and the days inside them are not equal.

Christmas Eve, who wakes up with the children, Christmas Day with all the relatives and New Year's Eve each carry a different weight.

Then there's the time between Christmas and New Year, when you're off work and you both want time with the kids.

Halving it doesn't work. A clear plan you both feel good about does, and it's much easier to build in October than in December.

I'm booking discovery calls until Friday 23 October. Click here to talk this through: https://theupspring.com.au/lets-talk

One number looked optional. The full year told a very different story.The next expense is coming.Another school fee.�Ano...
20/09/2026

One number looked optional. The full year told a very different story.

The next expense is coming.
Another school fee.�Another activity.�Another pair of shoes.�Another conversation you’d rather avoid.

You can keep handling each one on its own.

Or you can build the system once, so you’re prepared for what comes next.

The Good Conversation helps you:
* Put your children’s real costs in one place
* Build a proposal with a clear rationale
* Prepare for the conversation before you have it
* Create a process for new expenses going forward
* Practise with me before you send anything

Founding intake is open with founding pricing of $375, the tools and both live sessions.
Build it once. Have the conversation prepared.

https://program.theupspring.com.au/the-good-conversation

There’s a conversation many separated parents never have about their children’s expenses.It's obviously not because the ...
02/09/2026

There’s a conversation many separated parents never have about their children’s expenses.

It's obviously not because the expenses don’t matter.

But because the conversation can feel difficult.

School costs. Sport. Tutoring. Activities. Medical expenses. The things that keep arriving as your children grow.

Sometimes one parent simply keeps paying.

Sometimes both parents have very different ideas about what is reasonable.

And sometimes nobody knows how to start the conversation without reopening everything else.

This is exactly the conversation I want to help you prepare for.

One Childhood is my free live workshop for separated parents who want a clearer, more constructive way to approach sharing their children’s expenses.

Friday 11 September at 12:30pm AEST, on Zoom.

Replay included.

Save your place: https://program.theupspring.com.au/one-childhood-workshop

02/09/2026

You’ve separated. You’ve sorted the big things.

Then the school fees, sport, tutoring and activities keep coming.

Who pays for what?

And how do you have that conversation without it becoming another battle?

This is a conversation separated parents struggle with again and again.

The costs are real. The children still have needs. And yet the arrangements between two households can leave some expenses sitting in a grey area.

As a Mediator, I know how much easier these conversations become when a parent comes prepared.

That’s what I’m teaching in One Childhood, a free live workshop about preparing to share your children’s expenses.

Friday 11 September
12:30pm AEST
Live on Zoom
Free, with replay included

Register via the link in my bio or here:

https://program.theupspring.com.au/one-childhood-workshop

A quick word for the parent who read "negotiate your children's expenses" and thought, you haven't met my ex.I work with...
31/08/2026

A quick word for the parent who read "negotiate your children's expenses" and thought, you haven't met my ex.

I work with tricky exes for a living. What surprises people is how often the conversation moves anyway, once one parent walks in properly prepared.

The full cost picture on one page, a fair child-first frame, and options instead of an ultimatum. Preparation works even when the other parent is a long way from reasonable, because the first move belongs to you, and it can be made well.

One Childhood is my free live workshop on exactly this preparation. One hour on Friday 11 September at 12:30pm AEST, cameras off, first names only, questions answered privately.
Save your seat: https://program.theupspring.com.au/one-childhood-workshop

21/08/2026

The free checklist of what actually adds up over a childhood and 5 ways to share it all. The Children’s Expenses Checklist, link in bio.

Address

Level 2, 25 Ryde Road Pymble Sydney
Cammeray, NSW
2073

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 6pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 9pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 6pm
Thursday 8:30am - 9pm
Friday 8:30am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 3pm

Telephone

+61431781849

Website

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