Role of the Financial Specialist

finance expertThe financial professional in a collaborative divorce is a neutral member of the collaborative team who provides expertise in all aspects of the financial process. The financial professional provides a safe environment for parties to discuss the financial aspects of their marital estate.  In traditional litigation settings each party may retain their own financial professional.  In a collaborative setting there is one neutral financial professional committed to the collaborative process and equally committed to both parties.

The financial professional most commonly assists the parties in these areas:

  • Gather and organize financial information in order to paint a financial picture of the marital estate;
  • Prepare valuations of businesses, pensions, stock options, and trust interests;
  • Prepare marital balance sheets, sworn financial statements, separate property tracings, budgets, and income and expense determinations;
  • Evaluate the options each party has with respect to the economic and income tax aspects of dividing property in the marital estate;
  • Calculate child support worksheets;
  • Calculate maintenance scenarios;
  • Prepare multiple settlement scenarios with differing assumptions to assist the parties in arriving at a solution.

The benefits of a financial professional in a collaborative divorce include:

  • The financial cost is much less – there is one financial professional instead of two;
  • The emotional cost is much less by avoiding “dueling” financial experts;
  • A trained financial expert understands the role emotions can play in making financial decisions and assists the team to minimize and manage conflict;
  • The collaborative setting allows for exploring innovative and creative solutions that would not be allowed in a court of law;
  • The parties avoid the emotional toll of litigation and the uncertainty of the judge’s ruling;
  • The financial professional may serve as an educational resource for the spouse who is not attuned to the financial aspects of the divorce process;
  • The parties are empowered with financial information that enables them to make better decisions;
  • The parties own their resolution of the financial matters as a result of the collaborative process.