Also - if you own a home, consider your options carefully. One thing I didn't take into account in my divorce was this: my H wanted to sell the house ASAP so he could buy the property he was renting. I knew I couldn't afford to keep the house anyway so I went along with selling it, even though we'd only filed a few months before and hadn't gotten the settlement done.
It sold immediately and we didn't finish the divorce for another year and a half (negotiations, plus it's just a lot of paperwork!)
But I couldn't buy a new house until the divorce was final, because I needed my alimony to be included in my income for qualifying (even though I was putting a huge down payment) and the lenders wouldn't count it until the divorce was final, and they wanted to see a year of cancelled alimony checks.
I was ok because the market in my area stayed pretty much down the whole time. BUT - I could have gotten scr*wed if the real estate market had rebounded quickly - selling my house at the bottom of the market and having to buy a new one at higher rebound prices.
Since the real estate market has been bottomed out for a while here, it may or may not start picking up in your area. So I would recommend, if you're selling a house and buying a new one, wait to sell until most of the rest of your divorce is done.
Or, if there is equity in the home and it's really where you want to stay and you can afford it - consider trying to keep it. Usually this is a mistake for women, they get in over their heads and take too much of their share of marital assets in the form of illiquid equity. BUT - right now, when values are down, it could be a better investment than it usually is.
