Divorce is about many things. It is about lost love and trust. It is about shattered dreams and hopes. It is about children and keeping them safe. Divorce is also about money. That’s right. Money. And, in most divorces as in most marriages that end in divorce, money is a major issue that needs to be approached, processed and settled in order for a re-constituting family to move on healthfully.
In Collaborative Divorce, there is a vital and special role for a neutral professional with specialized financial expertise and training – someone that has come to be known as the Financial Specialist. Simply put, the financial specialist assist the team by conducting a comprehensive assessment of the divorcing couple’s financial affairs including assets that are owned (such as homes, bank accounts, stock, retirement plans, businesses), debts that are owed (such as mortgages, loans, credit cards) and cash flows derived from work and from other sources.
The financial specialist also learns of how the family has managed risk – for example life insurance policies that are in place. The financial specialist comprehensively gains all of the information that would have, in the litigation model, been gathered by two battling attorneys through an expensive and tedious process know as “discovery” - a process during which attorneys would often disagree about what the assets and liabilities actually were.
With a clear and comprehensive picture of a divorcing family’s finances in mind and with a picture of what each parents’ realistic needs are, the financial specialist can help maximize the available assets to best meet the needs of each parent and of the children. This is done from a position of neutrality – a position in which the financial specialist is not trying to get the most for each parent (as in litigation) but is trying to make the most of the available assets for the good of all members of the family.
The financial specialist has another unique and important property on the collaborative divorce team. The financial specialist does not represent any clear constituency within the family. Whereas the lawyers each represent a parent, the Collaborative Coaches each work with one parent and the child specialist brings the children’s voice to the table, the financial specialist is beholden to no one. True, the financial specialist has an unaligned relationship with each parent but the financial specialist has no constituency.
Thus, the financial specialist is often in a position to truly observe and uphold the integrity of the overall Collaborative process. The financial specialist therefore plays a key role for the family and for the professional members of the Collaborative team.
Financial Specialists are typically financial professionals with either a CPA (Certified Public Accounting) or CFP (Certified Financial Planner) designation. In addition, Financial Specialists undertake and earn a very special credential – that of a CDFA – Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. Financial specialists on a team can not have had a pre-existing relationship with either parent nor will a Financial Specialist have a professional role in the life of either parent after the process completes. This helps to assure the Financial Specialist’s objectivity and neutrality while assuring the parties that the focus is on their current financial status.
