Undoing a relationship involves all aspects of your life.
Lawyers advise on the legal aspects, divorce coaches can support the emotional and organizational aspects, parenting co-ordinators will help with your parenting plan.
As a Chartered Financial Divorce Specialist (CFDS) and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA), I work with the financial pieces of your separation.
My goal with this work is to give you (and your lawyer/ mediator when applicable) the information, explanation and options that you need to make confident, fully informed decisions that will form the foundation of the next part of your life.
I will work with you to:
Once an agreement is signed, I most often work with clients on annual income exchange and / or determination.
Parents also find that their agreement may not include as much detail as they now need for sec 7 expenses and RESP + post-secondary discussions.
This question doesn't have a single answer.
If you are interested in working with me, I recommend booking an introduction call to discuss where you are in the process. In that conversation, I will be able to give you a better timeline based on your specifics.
I don't recommend waiting until you are presented with an offer, or after you have presented an offer. Some clients have waited until that last minute, in an attempt to reduce costs. I need to be familiar with your situation to give you prudent advice; it takes time for me to review your documents, understand your situation and goals. I also have other active clients; there are times that I have a waiting list for new clients.
Yes, in whatever capacity you need me to.
Depending on your needs, your lawyer or mediator's preferred method of working, I can attend meetings, including mediations, review divison and support proposals and draft agreements, provide division options.
Commucations and summaries that I send to you are also written to be forwarded to your lawyer or mediator.
I get that. There is an additional cost to working with me that wouldn’t be there is you didn’t work with me.
You need to weigh how valuable the information I provide is, what information you need to make confident decisions and the cost of not getting this type of advice.
To help you manage the costs, I will invoice you in 6 hour blocks of time. This prevents a large, unexpected invoice in a month. You control the timing of when we add another 6 hour block. I use 6 hours as this is usually enough time to get one of your bigger questions answered, or get you to the next stage of discussions with your lawyer or mediator.
For total cost context (cost to get you to a signed agreement), in my experience, total costs for clients often have several ranges: $5,000-$8,000 usually covers a family that has minor children, needs to discuss spousal support and one parent may have variable income. $12,000-$15,000 is often the total cost for families who have additional complexity such as a corporation, large income disparity between the parents, multiple properties and some level of conflict. I work with a smaller number of families whose total costs are around $20,000. These are families who have complex financials and have been stuck in conflict usually for more than 18 months. Every family situation is unique; these estimates are provided to give you some sense of what usually happens when I work with people in separations.
They are collecting information, yes. They have varying levels of capability when it comes to understanding, explaining and interpreting financial information.
Lawyers and mediators don’t review affordability with you; this is outside their area of expertise.
My expertise is in the financial area, including affordability based on the terms of your agreement.
Strictly speaking, is there some duplication of costs? Yes. If I collect and organize your documents, your lawyer or mediator will still need to review those documents; they won’t just take my word for it.
One area I add value for clients is in the explanation and interpretation. The mechanics of pensions, taxation on assets, and corporate assets are not always fully understood by either the people involved in the separation or by the lawyers or mediator.
Another area that I add value for clients is in options for division of property, discussing the impact of sec 7 expense division and in options for payment of spousal support.
All of these areas directly impact what’s affordable for both of you the moment after the agreement is signed. Lawyers and mediators don’t advise on affordability.
Yes, I can.
I've completed the Collaborative Family Law training program, as well as several other courses on managing conflict and interpersonal dynamics.
When I work with both people in a separation, you sign a joint retainer with me. We agree on what information is shared (all of the financials that affect the family unit), and what information will stay with an individual (any scenarios about affordability that are focused on your individual post-separation goals).
Depending on how you are working with lawyers or a mediator, I will send information, attend meetings to present financial information & options, review draft agreements before they are finalized.
