A financial professional is one of the greatest advantages of the Collaborative Divorce process. They help both spouses understand their finances, evaluate settlement options, and make informed decisions based on accurate information. By reducing conflict, avoiding duplicate financial experts, and focusing on long-term financial stability, they can save time, lower costs, and provide greater confidence in the financial decisions that are to be made during the Collaborative Divorce process.
When you think about divorce, you probably picture attorneys, courtrooms, and judges. In a Collaborative Divorce, however, there is another divorce professional that plays an important role in helping you reach a successful outcome: the financial professional.
You may wonder why you would add another professional to your team. The financial professional plays an important role in helping reduce conflict over how to divide the family’s assets, lowering the cost of the divorce and providing a much clearer understanding of your post-divorce financial future.
What Does a Financial Professional Do?
The financial professional in Collaborative Divorce is a neutral financial expert. They are often a CPA or Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA). They do not represent either you or your spouse. Instead, they work with both of you to gather financial information and help everyone understand the complete financial picture. They will:
- Organize bank accounts, retirement accounts, investments, debts, and financial records
- Identify missing information that needs to be collected
- Prepare clear financial summaries that everyone can understand
- Explain financial concepts in plain language
- Answer questions about income, assets, debts, and cash flow
This is especially valuable if one spouse has handled most of the household finances during the marriage. The financial professional can educate the other spouse, so that they have a better understanding of what they own, what they owe, and how different financial decisions could affect their future.
Planning for Life After Divorce
One of the greatest benefits of the neutral financial professional is that they focus on your future, not just your past.
In a traditional litigated divorce, the emphasis is often on dividing the assets that already exist. A collaborative financial professional goes a step further by helping you evaluate how different settlement options will affect your life after the divorce.
For example, they can help you to answer questions such as:
Can you realistically afford to keep the family home?
- What will your monthly budget look like after the divorce?
- Which assets will provide the greatest long-term financial stability?
- How will retirement accounts, investments, or support payments affect your future?
Instead of making decisions based on emotion alone, you evaluate them using reliable financial information.
Why Neutrality Matters
Because the neutral financial professional works for both you and your spouse, their goal is not to help one side “win.” Instead, they help you both to:
- Understand the financial facts
- Evaluate different settlement options
- Make informed decisions based on accurate information
This reduces suspicion and conflict. When everyone is working from the same financial information, there is less opportunity for misunderstandings and fewer arguments about missing assets or hidden income.
A Financial Professional Will Save You Money
Many people assume adding another professional will increase the cost of divorce. Surprisingly, it is the opposite that is true.
Financial professionals charge lower hourly rates than attorneys. As a financial professional, they are more efficient in performing the financial analysis that would otherwise require both attorneys to work on and bill for creating and reviewing those documents.
In a litigated divorce, each spouse may hire separate financial experts who prepare competing reports, a duplication that is very expensive.
In a Collaborative Divorce, you share the neutral financial professional. Everyone works from the same information, reducing duplication and helping you reach agreements more efficiently.
Making Financial Decisions With Confidence
Perhaps the greatest value a financial professional provides is peace of mind.
When you understand your finances, you are better equipped to make thoughtful decisions instead of reacting out of fear or uncertainty. You gain a realistic picture of what your financial life can look like after divorce and can choose solutions that support your long-term goals.
Divorce always involves important financial decisions. Having a knowledgeable, neutral financial professional on your collaborative team will help you and your spouse to navigate those decisions with greater confidence, reduce unnecessary conflict, and build a stronger foundation for your future.
FAQs
1. What is the role of a financial professional in Collaborative Divorce?
A financial professional gathers financial information, explains assets and debts, prepares financial projections, and helps both spouses understand their options while remaining neutral throughout the process.
2. Does hiring a financial professional make divorce more expensive?
In a Collaborative Divorce, a shared financial professional reduces attorney time and eliminates the need for competing financial experts, lowering the overall cost.
3. Can a financial professional help you decide if you can keep your house?
Yes. A financial professional can prepare budgets and cash-flow projections to help you determine whether keeping the home is financially sustainable after your divorce.
With thirty years of experience Robin Rubrecht Zegen will help you identify and prioritize your goals and she will explain the options available for achieving them. She guides her clients through the transition while helping them maintain their relationships and dignity.
She is a member of the State Bar of Texas Family Law Section; Dallas Bar Association Family Law Section; Collin County Bar Association Family Law Section; Frisco Bar Association, and Plano Bar Association. She is a Master of the Bench in the Curt B. Henderson American Inns of Court.