What does a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® or CDFA® professional do?
The role of the CDFA® is to help both client and lawyer understand how the financial decisions made today will impact the client’s financial future, based on certain assumptions. A CDFA® is someone who comes from a financial planning, accounting or legal background and goes through an intensive training program to become skilled in analyzing and providing expertise related to the financial issues of divorce. A CDFA® professional helps divorcing clients navigate financial issues with an eye towards current and future consequences.
Top Five Reasons for Hiring a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® during the Divorce Process.
- Financial analysis conducted early in the divorce process can save time and reduce anxiety.
- A CDFA can help his/her clients save money during the divorce process.
- A CDFA can help his/her clients to avoid long-term financial pitfalls related to divorce settlements.
- CDFA professionals can assist their clients with developing detailed household budgets to help avoid post-divorce financial struggles.
- Using a CDFA professional can reduce the amount of apprehension and misunderstanding about the divorce process.
CDFA professionals helps divorcing clients understand:
- The short-term and long-term financial impacts of different settlement proposals
- Personal vs. marital property
- Valuing and dividing property
- Analyzing pension and retirement plan issues
- Spousal and child support
- Determining if a client can afford the matrimonial home – and if not, what might be an affordable alternative
- Tax problems, liabilities, and solutions
- Evaluating the client’s insurance needs
CDFA® professional abilities are:
- Strong financial knowledge to work with complex divorce issues, such as splitting investments accounts, analyzing asset values and regulations, finding hidden assets, and organize insurance for support payments
- Collect, arrange, and prepare financial information for you and your client, including marital balance sheets and income statements
- Identifying the short-term and long-term effects of dividing property
- Create substantial case exhibits in the form of spreadsheet and graphs
- Give you professional support to know you’ve covered all the financial “bases”
- Provide a rock solid personal financial analysis for your client
Benefits of incorporating a CDFA professional include:
- Easier and faster case preparation as the CDFA® professional does the detailed financial work for you
- Budgeting is done for you
- Use of divorce software that can be shared with attorneys for faster decision making
- Reduced liability by having in-depth financial research and material to support your case
- Reliable, expert witness testimony. If your case goes to court, a CDFA® professional, who is well acquainted with the case since day one.
- Bringing innovative and creative approach to settlement options
- Adding a neutral, non-legal party to help clients overcome stress, anxiety, and fear about the legal process
- Help you achieve the fairest, most financially equitable divorce settlement possible for your client
What is the value of a CDFA® professional?
Family law is complicated, and so are the finances related to it. A CDFA professional knows how to navigate the finance questions and requirements of divorce proceedings, allowing you to focus on the law. The earlier you and your client hire a CDFA professional, the more you can focus on your expertise and the law for your client.
