Every day, we’re involved with people who work in a wide range of professions. Our clients also include individuals who come to us for help with personal legal/financial problems—or suspicions.
If you belong to any of the following groups, we undoubtedly have solved the problems you’re most likely to encounter.
Divorce mediators
We can support mediators in their attempt to make sense of a couple’s financial situation.
We help them make the financial part of asset distribution a win-win for each spouse.
And we help lower the overall cost of divorce. Divorce mediators realize that hiring one financial expert, instead of two, will save the couple money.
How we support divorce mediators
Specifically, we can make sense of any confusion over what’s “mine” as opposed to what’s “ours.”
We can assist divorce mediators in determining the fair market value of assets, such as businesses. When it comes to other assets such as fine art, other collections or personal property, and real estate, we know whom to recommend.
We can advise mediators on the tax implications of assets, which can greatly affect the actual value of property when spouses divide what they own.
Division of assets, child support, and spousal support (maintenance): For example, we can help both spouses determine what they each need to maintain a lifestyle as close as possible to the one they had while married. Specifically, we can evaluate the current and assumed future costs of food, clothing, shelter, school and college costs, plus other expenses that they’re likely to encounter.
Doubts about full disclosure: We can be particularly helpful if, during mediation, questions arise about the honesty or actual financial situation of one of the spouses. Unfortunately, we’ve seen—as have many divorce mediators—proof that “amicable” doesn’t necessarily mean “honest.” Here’s how we can arrive at the truth:
- By reading between the lines in spouses’ tax returns, analyzing marital assets and liabilities, monthly expenses, etc., we can generally get a good idea about the couple’s finances and assets.
- We can look into individuals’ lifestyles to see if one of the spouses may be hiding income.
- We also look back to see changes or trends in income or expenditures while the marriage was deteriorating. For example, perhaps one of the spouse deferred income, or commissions, until after s/he believed the marriage would be dissolved.
The cost of bringing in a forensic accountant will obviously be much lower if the parties have disclosed everything, if they’re cooperating, and if the records are complete and accurate.
In any case, the cost of hiring a forensic accountant to assist with a mediated divorce is typically a fraction of the cost of hiring the same expert for a litigated divorce.
