Who we can help reduce the cost and stress of the divorce process.
If you are considering or are already in the divorce process and:
- Own a home with or without a mortgage
- Have retirement, cash, or other investments
- Are self-employed
- Have minor or special needs children
- Are a stay-at-home parent
- Are concerned your spouse is hiding assets or debts
- Are amicable and want to divorce cooperatively
- Need to prove your separate property
- Need an expert’s rational, logical opinion and support
give us a call or complete a request here for a free consultation to see if we can help you save on attorney fees/court costs, act as an expert witness in court, calculate and negotiate reasonable child or spousal support payments, budget for life after divorce, and ensure that your marital estate is reasonably valued with everything included before you negotiate the division. You may be surprised by how many important details can be missed in this process without a professional’s help, and it’s much more difficult to change after the divorce is finalized. give us a call or complete a request for a free consultation to see if we can help you save on attorney fees/court costs, act as an expert witness in court, calculate and negotiate reasonable child or spousal support payments, budget for life after divorce, and most importantly, ensure that your marital estate is reasonably valued with everything included before you negotiate the division. You may be surprised by how many details can be missed in this process without a professional’s help!
Facilitate negotiations
In most cases, having an outside party compile the marital estate and collaborate with the divorcing parties to come to a fair division of assets and debts results in significant cost savings in attorney fees and court costs.
Divorces that go to trial are very expensive (both financially and emotionally), and couples often end up spending most of the marital estate on the divorce itself when that money can be used to benefit the spouses and their children.
We can offer a more independent opinion to take some of the emotion out of the divorce negotiations and help you avoid as much unnecessary legal and court cost as possible and get on with your new life sooner and with less financial burden.
Marital estate compilation, valuation, and suggested division
Getting divorced can be overwhelming, and for many individuals, the idea of completing the estate inventory for the attorneys is a task people would put behind a root canal in order of desirability. Even the most organized, competent people can benefit from a professional looking over the marital estate and offering feedback on the valuation of the items included. Just a few of many important common considerations include the following:
- If you take all or a portion of a retirement investment and need to cash it out after the divorce is final, there may be a tax penalty associated with the withdrawal that you would not incur if you took a different asset from the marital estate instead.
- Rental properties can either be kept to continue earning income (which has a value to the estate) or sold; if you take such an asset in a divorce, the value included in the marital estate for that property may be different depending on what you plan to do with the properties.
- Employee pension plans that have a future stream of income once the employee retires have a value today that can be calculated and the marital portion included in the estate. The balance in the account on the most recent statement is NOT the correct value to the marital estate.
- When a spouse invests in a business or is self-employed, the business may be a marital asset that requires valuation to determine a reasonable amount for including in the marital estate.
We can help navigate the financial details so that clients make the best decisions for their new life. Not only can we help compile the marital estate and ensure its completeness, but we can also recommend options for division of property to use in negotiations. We can do this for either the individual or both spouses and will act as an advocate for our clients.
Budget for the future
We love to help our clients feel confident that they can make it on their own in their new life after divorce. One way we can do that is to help put together a budget that shows expected monthly income and expenses and make recommendations for ways to make ends meet. We can do that together, or you can take our online self-study post-divorce budgeting course. Anyone considering or going through divorce can benefit from this in-depth course that helps students think through and take control over their financial decisions so that they emerge from the divorce process confident in their bright financial future.
give us a call or complete a request here for a free consultation to see if we can help you save on attorney fees/court costs, act as an expert witness in court, calculate and negotiate reasonable child or spousal support payments, budget for life after divorce, and ensure that your marital estate is reasonably valued with everything included before you negotiate the division. You may be surprised by how many important details can be missed in this process without a professional’s help, and it’s much more difficult to change after the divorce is finalized. give us a call or complete a request for a free consultation to see if we can help you save on attorney fees/court costs, act as an expert witness in court, calculate and negotiate reasonable child or spousal support payments, budget for life after divorce, and most importantly, ensure that your marital estate is reasonably valued with everything included before you negotiate the division. You may be surprised by how many details can be missed in this process without a professional’s help!
Trace separate property and/or investigate for hidden assets
Often times, clients come into a marriage with assets they’ve already acquired in life, or they receive inheritance during the marriage that may be deemed separate property (in some states) for purposes of the marital estate division in divorce. When those assets are comingled with marital assets or used to contribute to the purchase of marital assets, the distinction between separate and community (marital) property can become complicated. We can help to trace the transactions that occurred during the marriage to determine reasonable separate property amounts for use in compiling and negotiating the division of the marital estate. We prefer not to cost clients more to perform the tracing than the benefits they would receive from this exercise in their settlements, so we strategize with our clients to determine the most effective and efficient level of detail needed from our work.
Post-divorce consulting
When the divorce is finalized and a new life unfolds, questions often arise about how to address certain financial decisions and responsibilities. For example, someone who has relied upon their spouse to file the tax returns every year may benefit from guidance about filing his/her own taxes, especially if he/she prefers not to pay a CPA firm for a relatively simple tax return. Other clients may need to make adjustments to the post-divorce budget we prepared during the divorce process or are considering withdrawing funds received from the settlement and would like guidance about options.
We can help with education and resources to ensure that clients continue to have support when needed. We are also available to provide live training to groups upon request.
OUR SERVICES
Expert Witness
Although we do our best to help ensure a fair settlement without going to trial, sometimes it is a necessary event. In that case, we can testify as an expert witness for our clients and their attorneys. In addition to performing tracings of assets, we can also assist attorneys in the discovery process.