Collaborative Financial Specialist | Forensic Accountant

Collaborative Divorce processes are controlled by the clients. They keep the decision-making power where it belongs, with those affected by the outcome. It’s extremely different from a court process, in which ultimately the state and court formulas determine what the co-parenting arrangement and divorce settlement will be. Within the Collaborative Divorce process, the clients establish the agenda for the divorce, and they choose the settlement that’s better for their family. Both parties keep full decision-making control and authority.

Collaborative team Financial Specialists or Forensic Accountants work with both clients as a neutral in order to:

• Offer practical, ongoing financial planning, guidance, budgeting, and support advice throughout the process of divorce.
• Help with the process of disclosure by organizing and gathering information and documentation that relates to the parties’ expenses, incomes, debts, and assets.
• Be certain both participants have a complete understanding of their present financial situation.
• Inform the clients concerning the long and short-term economic consequences of settlement plans that are being considered, allowing them to make fully educated choices and choose what’s most suitable for their circumstances.

There are some requirements for Collaborative Divorces. Both parties have to commit themselves to openness, honesty, and willingness to put the welfare of the whole family first. The need to change ineffective patterns of communication and the dedication to work at change are critical to a successful outcome. Training in communication is as essential to the process as the financial and legal negotiations. If dysfunctional patterns aren’t changed, conflict continues. It’s this emphasis on changing the way of engaging with one another that makes this process a better approach to both divorce as well as post-divorce co-parenting.

Let’s dive in a bit deeper:

Money: it’s among the main problems in any divorce situation. Whether it is determining how to allocate debt responsibility, divide property, or decide support, almost all divorces involve some type of money factor. However, this process is the only process of divorce that involves a neutral divorce financial specialist as a part of the divorce team.

The divorce financial specialist typically will be either a CPA or other financial specialist with additional training as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst or Certified Divorce Financial Planner. Within the Collaborative Process the specialist is neutral. (He or she often is called the “Financial Neutral.”) He or she does not represent you or your partner. A neutral’s function, instead, includes helping you and your partner understand your present financial circumstances and brainstorm choices for the future.

The neutral divorce financial specialist starts by assisting you in gathering your financial details and organizing it into helpful reports. These reports will allow you to deeply comprehend your existing financial circumstances.

The neutral specialist also will assist you and your partner in brainstorming potential options for settlement which will meet both your needs as much as possible.  He or she may educate you, as well as your partner so both of you realize the impact that taxes might have on numerous settlement options.  It’ll help you comprehend the real value of each possible settlement option in order for you to realistically compare and analyze all options.

Each couple has special financial situations that are an important aspect of the divorce process. Knowing these financial circumstances is a vital aspect of developing a divorce settlement which will work for both you, as well as your partner after the divorce.

The Neutral Specialist may:

• Assist you, as well as your partner in gathering the financial details needed in the divorce
• Prepare all statements of your non-marital and marital liabilities and assets
• Create accurate post and pre-divorce budgets for you and partner
• Inform you and your partner of your present financial circumstances
• Make you and partner alert to financial problems which must be addressed in the divorce
• Develop several settlement choices for your consideration, utilizing various support proposals and various asset divisions
• Assist you in analyzing and evaluating different asset and support division proposals
• Assist you in creating a financial settlement which will meet the needs of you, your partner, and your kids, to the best extent possible
• Advise you about how it’s possible to minimize all post-divorce taxes.

The neutral divorce financial specialist will add a layer of expertise and education in the divorce which will offer you confidence that the settlement you and your partner will develop using the Collaborative Process will meet all financial goals for your divorce.

For more information contact collaborativepracticesandiego.com