My aunt had a saying: “Money is the root of all evil and the funny thing is we’re all rooting for it!”
My aunt was a wise woman. Money is an important commodity, especially when parties are divorcing. I help people minimize the problems related to sorting out the money issues in a divorce or separation.
As a Financial Specialist in the Collaborative process, I am a neutral This is a real advantage in that you avoid or minimize the back and forth arguments around many of the financial issues when you have the help of a neutral third party.
As the Financial Specialist my job is to collect the financial documentation so there is full disclosure. This is the boring but necessary part of the process. I will ask you to collect your tax returns, account statements, property valuations, pension valuations, etc. before we begin the financial process. Sometimes each party will have a different valuation from an expert such as opinions as to the value of the home. We discuss these valuations and come to some agreement, often somewhere in the middle. This is much more cost efficient than fighting in court. Even better, the parties jointly hire a single valuator to determine the value. This saves money, time and arguments.
Within the financial process, we focus on the property and support issues. I create a report for the family so that they can easily see what the assets and debts of the parties were on the date of separation and date of marriage, We also do a review of the last three years of income for each spouse. From there we can begin to look at settlement options for the property and I can run calculations on support ranges based on the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines and Child Support Guidelines. I make sure you make decisions based on the proper information. Throughout our meetings and communications, I work to educate you about your financial options. It is important that you understand any tax, income or legal issues. I work together with the lawyers to alert them to when you might need legal details as they relate to the financial issues within your family. When your tax issues are complex, I always recommend that you work with your accountant.
Throughout this process, we work as a team to help you negotiate a financial agreement through individual, joint and five way meetings. This is a flexible model and we work with the unique needs of your family to help you reach an agreement. It is very efficient and results in better agreements.
The Collaborative Financial Review is the report that summarizes the information, agreements and areas to be resolved. Where possible, I assist you to reach agreement and we document that within the report. When there are unresolved issues, I provide the supporting information and outline the issue so that when the report goes to your legal team, they can work with you to resolve that issue.
I find my role very rewarding in that I can often assist to reduce the anger and animosity in the financial negotiations, and help the family craft an agreement that works for everyone fairly.
I am not sure that my aunt was right when she said “money is the root of all evil” but it certainly can cause arguments, especially when you are going through a divorce. I help people just like you resolve the arguments cost effectively and in a fair way for everyone.
