Mary Ann Hughes

Mary Ann Hughes is a certified divorce coach with a laser-focused specialty: helping families get through divorce when one or more children have special needs. She knows the terrain intimately — she spent two years fighting her own high-conflict, high-stakes divorce involving two sons on opposite ends of the autism spectrum, and came out the other side with an outcome many in the field consider a benchmark.

Her work fills a gap that lawyers and therapists typically can't. She helps clients organize priorities, prepare documentation, understand what questions to ask, and stay strategic — so they can work more effectively with their legal and financial teams without burning through fees on tasks they could handle themselves. She's deeply versed in special needs planning: life care plans, government benefits, special needs trusts, guardianship, and transitioning to adulthood.

Mary Ann holds certifications as a CDC Certified Divorce Coach, CDC Special Needs Divorce Coach, Co-Parenting Specialist, Parenting Coordinator, and Master Life Coach, among others. She's also Co-Director of the NADP Special Needs Chapter. She brings both the credentials and the lived experience of someone who has been through the fire — and made it through.