DIVORCE FINANCIAL PLANNING WITH CUSTOMIZED NAVIGATION TO YOUR OPTIMAL FINANCIAL SETTLEMENT

Divorce financial planning is essential to achieving your optimal financial outcome as the quality of your divorce settlement depends on the caliber of information you use to assess your choices. 

• You need to know how much support is needed to cover your expenses
• Equally important, how you divide assets should be evaluated based on proper identification and accurate valuation of all the marital assets, whether the marital home, stock options, or a closely-held business
• An after-tax division property is going to be different than a pre-tax one.

You only get one chance to get this right and you risk leaving tens of thousands on the table if you don’t have the right analysis and information on which to base your decisions.

Having gathered, organized, and analyzed your financial information before involving attorneys or mediators will avoid frustrating delays and multiple discovery requests. Having clear financial data also prevents prolonged negotiations based on incomplete information and facilitates faster, more rational decisions.  A faster divorce reduces stress for all, including the children, and it also facilitates faster emotional recovery and ability to move forward with life.

How much will you be spending and how much money will you need to cover your outflow?  Can you afford to keep the house? How much support will be needed?  Will you need to upgrade your job?

Some of your assets or a portion of their value may be considered separate property and not be subject to division in the divorce.

Is there executive compensation, a closely held business, a pension? Accurately valuing these assets is not straight-forward and will be critical to your financial settlement.

Not all assets are taxed alike! Some are subject to capital gains, others to income tax, some are exempt from taxation, and others won’t be taxed until distributions begin in retirement. A before tax division of property is not an accurate reflection of what each spouse will realize. After tax calculations are essential to achieving a fair settlement.

Like with taxes, not all assets are created equally with respect to liquidity and rates of growth. Will you have enough money to meet your expenses over the next few years? Will you be able to purchase a new home or meet your retirement goals? You need to understand how settlement options will impact both cash flow and net worth of the next 20-30 years.

Alimony is a grey area in divorce in most states and determined by a myriad of factors including ability to fund retirement, expected future inheritances, age of the parties, contributions to childcare, and more. We will help estimate alimony using several methods that will assist in negotiations and strengthen your arguments for the amount and duration of alimony.

All the financial disclosures and documents required in your state will already be complete for you so you save on attorney fees.

There are some issues, like keeping the marital home when refinancing rates are higher than the original rate, or the when the spouse who wants to keep the house can’t qualify for a loan that require creative solutions. A CDFA® can often provide clever ways to achieve what was otherwise thought to be unattainable.

The recipient spouse of alimony and child support, or a future pension payout, risks the possibility that the payor spouse is disabled or dies. How does one protect that? You’ll receive specific recommendations on methods to protect your financial future.