Divorce Financial Specialist

What is the role of the Divorce Financial Specialist?

Money is one of the biggest issues in any divorce. Whether it’s deciding how to divide property, allocate responsibility for debt, or determine support, almost every divorce involves some kind of money issue. Yet, the Collaborative Divorce Process is the only divorce process which includes a neutral divorce financial specialist as part of your divorce team.

Your divorce financial specialist will typically either be a Certified Divorce Financial Planner (CDFP) or a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA). In the Collaborative Process your financial specialist is neutral. (S/he is often referred to as a “Financial Neutral.”) S/he doesn’t represent you or your spouse. Instead, the financial neutral’s function is to help you and your spouse understand your current financial situation and brainstorm options for your future.

Your neutral divorce financial specialist will begin by helping you gather your financial information and organize it into useful reports. Those reports will enable you deeply understand your current financial situation.

Your neutral divorce financial specialist will also help you and your spouse brainstorm possible settlement options that will meet both of your needs as much as possible.  S/he can educate you and your spouse so that both of you understand the effect that taxes may have on various settlement options.  This will help you understand the true value of each potential settlement option so that you can realistically analyze and compare your options.

Every couple has unique financial circumstances which are a critical part of the divorce process. Understanding those financial circumstances is an important part of creating a divorce settlement that will work well for both you and your spouse after your divorce.

Your Neutral Divorce Financial Specialist can:

  • Help you and your spouse gather the financial information you need in your divorce;
  • Prepare statements of your marital and non-marital assets and liabilities;
  • Develop accurate pre and post-divorce budgets for you and your spouse;
  • Educate you and your spouse about your current financial situation;
  • Make you and your spouse aware of financial issues that need to be addressed in your divorce;
  • Create multiple settlement options for your consideration, using different asset divisions and different support proposals;
  • Help you analyze and evaluate various support and asset division proposals;
  • Help you create a financial settlement that will meet the needs of you, your spouse, and your children, to the greatest extent possible;
  • Advise you on how you can minimize your post-divorce taxes.

Your neutral divorce financial specialist adds a layer of education and expertise in your divorce that will give you confidence that the settlement that you and your spouse will create using the Collaborative Process will meet your divorce financial goals.

Collaborative Divorce Team | Financial Advisor | Collaborative Divorce Illinois

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