Divorce is more than a change-of-life or a legal process. It’s also a very technical financial challenge. Fortunately, with a CPA and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® professional like me on your side, I can help you clear all of these intimidating hurdles:
You’ve likely seen it by now: the “Superior Court of Arizona Affidavit of Financial Information” or AFI. It’s the official 12-page document that you must complete—and it’s typically the first thing your attorney will give you (completely blank, of course). Not only does it ask tons of questions about your current financial situation (many of which may be hard enough to answer, depending on your spouse’s situation), but it also asks you seemingly-impossible questions about the future. Income. Assets. Child expenses. Health insurance. The AFI is a challenge unto itself. Let me help you not only complete it, but do so in a way that builds your best possible case.
What are your—and your children’s—financial needs? They’re ever-changing; children grow. And tax laws treat them differently at different ages, so you need to know exactly what you’re doing to plan the best possible future for them. I’m an expert at this. Let me help.
This is a big one. It boils down to who-owned-what, and when. You’ll often need a financial “snapshot” of one specific date in time, such as when you first married, or when you separated. Tracking this down can be tricky: It requires special software and forensic skills to reconstruct what something was worth, at a given time, compared to what it’s worth now—or what it will yield in the future. The implications are big. Don’t face this alone.
QDRO stands for “Qualified Domestic Relations Order.” This is a Court order that is required if there is an employer retirement plan, such as a 401(k), that needs to be divided. I can help you—and your attorney—with the complex calculations needed to complete it.
You can’t complete a divorce without a full and accurate picture of all the financial elements. This is inherently hard—but what if, say, your spouse is trying to hide assets or information? Let me scrutinize his AFI on your behalf. Let me pour through those bank statements, tax returns, pension statements… all of it. I can see when things “don’t look right,” and dig deeper, on your behalf, when they do.
How much will you be able to count on, each month, each year? Is it being calculated accurately? Fairly? What are the tax considerations? Put me and my team to work on this for you.
This is a brief overview of just a few of the financial services I provide for affluent Arizona women facing divorce. Yes, this is highly technical. And I’m highly qualified to tackle it. But I promise to make everything clear and simple for you: What you’ll get. What you can expect. Because the financial/technical side is my job, not yours.
