DIVORCE PLANNING

Divorce Planning & Litigation Support Services

There are many divorce planning and litigation support services that Guidant Advisors, LLC provide. We can assist you and/or your attorney in a comprehensive, full-service manner or in an ala-carte manner where we are only retained in specialty areas that complement the skills of the other professionals you have retained, such as your divorce attorney, forensic accountant, tax and/or estate planning attorney.

We are also available to provide a second opinion and/or review any other financial advice you may have received so as to ensure that no financial concerns have been overlooked.

Services we provide include, but are not limited to, the following:

Divorce Planning is a comprehensive process that involves assessing your current financial situation, including compiling your income, expenses, assets and liabilities, and providing several financial settlement scenarios to show you and/or your attorney how your financial situation will be affected by each scenario. We will calculate and run alimony/maintenance and child support scenarios and propose several settlement options so you can decide which option is best for you.

We not only show you where you will be today, but will also show you where you will be in the future by providing financial charts showing how each settlement will affect you years into the future. Most divorce professionals only show you the settlement options at the time of divorce. We utilize our skills as financial and wealth management advisors to help you think about issues, such as insurances, credit, debt and home re-purchase options, that you may not think of otherwise. We then help you move forward through our post-divorce administration and planning services to implement any financial advice given. Our relationship does not end when the divorce is done, as is common with other financial experts.

Divorce Planning may include all the services listed below.

Financial Discovery / Document Production

Financial disclosures and discovery production is often overwhelming and time consuming. We help take that burden off your shoulder by assisting you in obtaining all financial documents that need to be produced, organizing it and responding to any discovery requests your attorney may need.

We will put together a Net Worth statement outlining all the assets and liabilities of your marital estate so you will see clearly and concisely what is to be divided.

Financial Affidavit & Lifestyle Analysis

Most states require each party to complete a Financial Affidavit, which states all your income sources and expenses, as well as a listing of all your assets and debts. Most clients struggle with this due to their unknown income and/or expenses going forward.

We assist you in identifying your past expenses based on your "lifestyle" during the marriage and help identify future expenses, such as health insurance and new living expenses, that should be identified and listed.

Equitable Distribution Schedules (Division of Assets/Liabilities)

Equitable Distribution of the marital estate includes first identifying all the assets and liabilities held both jointly and individually in the parties' names as of a specific valuation date. Once all assets and liabilities have been identified, we then need to determine how much are "marital property". This is different for each state. The "marital estate" is what is then divided between the parties.

Normally, establishing the equitable distribution of the marital estate is done before any support schedules can be done, as any income producing assets need to go into the support schedule calculations. This is why knowing which assets and liabilities you are willing to take and/or be awarded to you is so important.

We also assist in valuing certain marital assets, such as pensions, stock options, retirement plans, employee benefits and other financial assets that may need a present value completed.

Once all marital assets and liabilities are determined, we then provide several scenarios outlining which assets and/or liabilities you would receive, the financial risks associated with each (such as tax liability issues), and how those assets and/or liabilities will affect you years into the future. This gives you clarity in deciding which settlement option is best for you!

Support Schedules (Alimony/Maintenance & Child Support)

Support in many states depends on many factors, such as the assets and liabilities you will receive in the divorce, the length of marriage, how many overnights you have with the children, child care, health insurance, and extra curricular items, to name a few. We will calculate and run different support schedules based on direction by you and/or your attorney so you will know what your support payments may be, under different settlement options.

Settlement & Mediation Assistance

We will assist you and your attorney with proposed settlement negotiations and attend mediation with you and your attorney, if need be.

This allows you to see the financial affects each offer has on both the division of the marital estate, your income potential and future financial security during negotiations. We help you to make more informed decisions about your financial future.