Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® Professional
Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® Professionals’ Responsibilities and the Team Approach
The role of the CDFA® professional is to help both the client and lawyer understand how the financial decisions made today will impact the client’s financial future, based on certain assumptions.
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A CDFA® professional is someone who comes from a financial planning, accounting or legal background and goes through an intensive training program to become skilled in analyzing and providing expertise related to the financial issues of divorce. The CDFA® professional:
Becomes part of the divorce team, providing litigation support for the lawyer and client, or becomes a member of a Collaborative Law team. In either event, the CDFA® professional will be responsible for:
Identifying the short- and long-term effects of dividing property
Integrating tax issues
Analyzing pension and retirement plan issues
Determining if the client can afford the matrimonial home—and if not, what might be an affordable alternative
Evaluating the client’s insurance needs
Establishing assumptions for projecting inflation and rates of return
Bringing an innovative and creative approach to settling cases
The CDFA® professional also:
Provides the client and lawyer with data that shows the financial effect of any given divorce settlement, pre- and post-tax
Can appear as an expert witness if the case should go to court, or in mediation or arbitration proceedings
Is familiar with the tax issues that apply to divorce
Has background knowledge of the legal issues of divorce
Can create a bespoke personal Financial Plan post-divorce to help the individual(s):
Reevaluate their goals in light of the new financial picture
Identify lifestyle needs and annual/lifetime spending capacity
Develop a budget
Set retirement objectives
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