Divorce Services

We want to know what is important to you and what you want your life to be once your divorce is final. We enable you to understand the tax and other consequences of any option you consider. It is our goal to ensure your decisions are fully informed and set you up for the life you want after divorce.

We are trained mediators that can work with you and your attorneys or we can be dual advocates and mediate with the advantage of working together with full disclosure of the financial information. There are many benefits to mediating your divorce as outlined below, but perhaps the greatest benefit for most people is feeling like your concerns have been heard and that you got to negotiate the best outcome instead of leaving your future in someone else’s hands. We often hear that it is a positive way to handle an emotionally charged situation.

The benefits of mediation are:

• Less expensive than a trial.
• Takes less time – a divorce in a court process takes 18-24 months or more – a mediation can be done in a matter of a few weeks. 
• A mediation can be scheduled at your convenience not forced on you based on a court’s schedule.
• It allows the participants, who are more knowledgeable about their lives and situation, to make the decisions instead of leaving it the hands of someone you don’t know and who doesn’t have time to fully understand your situation. 
• It allows the parties to be creative in their settlement options.
• It often helps parties maintain a cordial relationship, which is a benefit particularly if they have children together. 
• It is completely confidential, so you keep your private life private instead of parading failures, accusations and disappointments through a court hearing.
• For most people, this is a positive way to handle an emotionally charged situation. We can mediate your divorce as a dual advocate working with you and your spouse, or we can support you if you are working with another mediator or with an attorney.

We will work with you (and your attorney, if you have one) to ensure that you have all of the information you will need in order to fully understand your current financial situation and discuss with you what you want your financial future to be. When considering how to divide the marital assets, you need to understand how each option could impact the future. For example, the tax implications of a settlement, does the settlement meet your current needs and how does position you to meet your future financial goals. We work with you so that you fully understand the potential impact of each division option you consider.

– this has many possible issues to be considered, including the net present value; Is any of the retirement separate property? Is it a 401(k), a Roth IRA, a traditional IRA, a TSP, or a 403(b)? What are the tax consequences of splitting any of these retirement plans? Can you use any of these funds before you reach retirement age? We can help you to understand the different types of retirement plans and the pros and cons of the different options on their division. These plans are sometimes the largest assets outside of home, so they should not be overlooked.

There are many things that need to be addressed to ensure that the settlement agreement is fully executed. There are also pro-active things that need to be done to begin working toward your financial future. For example, your beneficiaries on your paperwork at work, your point of contact for doctors, dentist or other medical professionals, and have you considered your insurance needs in your new life? We can help you walk through all of these things so you can move forward confident that if something should happen, you have not left anything divorce related undone.

For others, they have not felt that they handled their money as well as they could have and they want to create a better financial future for themselves and their families. We are able to help you with basic financial planning: setting up a budget; bill paying; retirement planning; planning for emergencies and big purchases; and understanding insurance needs. No one should be embarrassed to have questions about basic finances. We want to educate people so they can be successful in their financial lives.

Do you or your spouse have a defined benefit or pension plan? Do you have a small business? Do you own rental property? Do you have deferred compensation plan or stock options? Do you question whether your spouse has been fully forthcoming with their financial information. Do you need to establish your lifestyle while married? We can be your expert and we can testify in court or in depositions, if necessary, to support your case.