I don’t normally like to write about painful subjects, but one that seems to come up rather frequently, either in casual conversation with a new acquaintance or occasionally with a close friend who shocks you with the news, is the subject of divorce.
There are business divorces, between partners, and matrimonial divorces between spouses. As financial advisors we periodically find ourselves working for one (and sometimes both) of the separating parties. Sometimes the terms of the separation are reasonably agreed upon by the parties but often enough, it seems that one party wants to take advantage of the other party, play unfair. In the case of the latter, it usually requires some measure of forensic accounting (tracing, account statement analysis, etc.).
Perhaps one of the most important recommendations I could make would be to seek the assistance of a financial advisor even before you select an attorney. Sometimes it is easier to gather information while everything is still “friendly“. Once the attorneys are hired things tend to get contentious and usually more expensive.
Even if it is only a broad overview meeting to discuss the overall situation, it can be very helpful. Two cases I have worked on (both after the divorce was final) I discovered million dollar plus errors made in the asset inventory which favored the other party. That is a very unfortunate situation. Once the decree is signed by the judge, it is nearly impossible to reverse the division of assets as stipulated in the decree. A brief one or two hour asset discovery meeting would have highlighted the assets missed in the partition agreement.