Avoid financial pitfalls during and after your divorce
At West Coast Family Mediation Center, our mediators are trained as Certified Divorce Financial Analysts (CDFA™). We provide divorce financial mediation and analysis that can save you time, money, avoid long-term financial liabilities, prevent post-divorce financial struggles, and provide you with better understanding about the divorce process in general.
Our Certified Divorce Financial Analysts (CDFA™) provide financial mediation and analysis across California and are based out of San Diego.
Save time by conducting an analysis of your financial situation
The average length of the divorce process in California is 15 months. In the beginning stages of the process, both parties generally spend a lot of time trying to get a clear understanding of the financial aspects of the separation. As your CDFA™, we will explain all of the unfamiliar terminology and financial matters surrounding any pending decisions. This will help empower you to make educated financial decisions throughout the proceedings.
Save money on your divorce
As part of the financial analysis process, we will educate you so that you understand the often complicated financial decisions surrounding a divorce. This knowledge will provide you with a clear picture of your future financial needs, which is vital when moving forward after dissolution. If you do not work with a CDFA™, your legal settlement might simply continue to pass back and forth between your attorneys without you ever attaining a clear understanding of the financial ramifications of your decisions. This can be time consuming, expensive, and detrimental to everyone involved.
Avoid long-term financial issues related to divorce agreements
Whether you choose mediation or to work with an attorney, as your CDFA™, we can forecast the effects of the marital settlement agreement. This includes details of all tax liabilities and benefits. Developing a long-term forecast for your financial situation is as important as a short-term snapshot. Financial decisions must be made to address your immediate family needs, long-term goals, and your future retirement needs.
Prevent post-divorce financial struggles
As part of the financial analysis, we will help you determine what your divorce will cost in the long run and develop a realistic monthly budget. We take all finances into consideration, including things that may not have occurred to you, such as life insurance, health insurance, tax implications, and cost of living increases. As divorce financial professionals, we are familiar with all of the financial elements that must be examined before agreeing on a final financial settlement.
A Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA™) helps individuals and couples understand the financial impact of decisions made during divorce. This can include analyzing income, expenses, assets, debts, taxes, insurance, retirement accounts, and the long-term effects of different settlement options. The goal is to provide clear financial information so you can make informed decisions about your future.
A divorce attorney provides legal advice and represents a client's legal interests, while a CDFA™ focuses specifically on the financial aspects of divorce. A CDFA™ can analyze how different financial decisions or settlement scenarios may affect each spouse both now and in the future. Depending on your situation, a CDFA™ may work alongside attorneys or as part of the divorce mediation process.
A CDFA™ can be especially helpful during mediation when a divorce involves significant assets, retirement accounts, real estate, business interests, different income levels, tax considerations, or concerns about long-term financial security. Financial analysis can help both spouses better understand the potential consequences of different settlement options before reaching an agreement.
A CDFA™ can help identify and analyze the financial implications of different approaches to dividing marital assets. This may include evaluating real estate, retirement accounts, investments, debt, cash flow, taxes, and other financial considerations. The CDFA™ provides financial analysis rather than legal advice regarding how property must be divided under California law.
Yes. Retirement assets can be an important and sometimes complicated part of a divorce settlement. A CDFA™ can help evaluate retirement accounts, pensions, and other long-term assets and explain how different settlement scenarios could affect each spouse's future financial position.
Yes. Keeping the family home may feel like the best option, but it is important to understand whether it is financially sustainable. A CDFA™ can evaluate factors such as mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, maintenance costs, income, other assets, and future expenses to help you understand how keeping or selling the home could affect your overall financial situation.
Divorce decisions can have tax consequences that are not always obvious when evaluating a settlement. A CDFA™ can help identify potential tax considerations associated with assets, investments, retirement accounts, real estate, and other financial decisions so they can be considered before a settlement is finalized.
Yes. One of the primary benefits of divorce financial planning is looking beyond the immediate settlement. A CDFA™ can help develop realistic budgets and financial projections that consider income, living expenses, insurance, taxes, retirement needs, and other factors that may affect your financial life after divorce.
Ideally, financial analysis begins before major financial decisions or settlement agreements are made. Involving a CDFA™ early in the divorce or mediation process can give you more time to understand your financial situation, identify potential concerns, and compare settlement options before making decisions that may have long-term consequences.
In financial mediation, a CDFA™ can serve as a neutral financial professional who helps both spouses understand the financial information and implications of potential settlement options. The CDFA™ does not advocate for one spouse over the other when serving in a neutral mediation role.
Yes. West Coast Family Mediation provides divorce financial mediation and analysis across California and is based in San Diego. Our mediators trained as Certified Divorce Financial Analysts (CDFA™) help clients understand the short- and long-term financial implications of divorce decisions as part of the mediation and divorce planning process.
Alleviate anxiety and reduce misunderstandings
Misinformation and misconceptions about the divorce process are common, and they can be detrimental to you and your whole family. Many people mistakenly believe that after their divorce, they can continue to live the same way they did during marriage, but this is often not the case. It is crucial that you properly analyze your current income along with your financial needs to ensure you are setting yourself up for success post-divorce. As your CDFA™, we can provide you with a sound financial divorce analysis that will help ensure a stable economic future.
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"I want to thank you so much for helping us out with this whole thing. You have helped make smooth a time in our lives that could have been much more crazy and messy – I can’t thank you enough for your help. You do a noble thing."
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"Thank you for sharing with me some of your own personal experiences, that information changed my life. I am so happy now. I never believed I would get over this and now I truly have. I cannot thank you enough."
"I really feel so much better about everything! I have told many people about your words of wisdom and how you helped make a hard situation feel less hopeless."
"Thank you for your professionalism and neutrality for helping us solve our issue Amanda. It is a huge relief to have it settled. I still hope in the end my ex and I will be friends again."
