Client Services

Directed Divorce is a consultancy specializing in the analysis and presentation of financial information unique to your divorce. In divorce, things move very fast. Whether you filed yourself or were served by your spouse, it is imperative that you do everything necessary to assure your divorce concludes favorably because.....

You Only Get One Shot

There are typically no"Do Over's" in your divorce settlement. Once you've signed on the dotted line, it's over. In most cases, absent fraud on the part of your former spouse, the deal you've signed is the deal you live with. If the deal you've accepted doesn't properly account for all assets or leaves you with insufficient income to sustain yourself and your family, you may well find yourself under extreme financial duress in a few short years. Directed Divorce works hard to prevent that from happening.

A 50/50 Split Is Not Always Equitable

In discussions with your spouse or their counsel, they will quite probably proffer a settlement offer. The offer may seem very reasonable. For example, the house is worth $500,000, the mortgage is $200,000 leaving $300,000 in equity. Your spouse may suggest that you take the house in exchange for $300,000 in stocks.

Looks like a 50/50 split, that's fair, right? Maybe not. The stocks your former spouse has taken are liquid with negligible carrying costs. The house you accepted in return has a mortgage, taxes, maintenance costs, utilities, illiquidity and on and on. If you get the house, can you afford to keep it? If you can't keep it, how long will it take to sell it? If you can't sell it quickly, can you keep it from going into foreclosure?

This is one simple example of the pitfalls of proceeding with insufficient insight into the character of your settlement. Directed Divorce helps you analyze settlement offers from your former spouse and provides guidance in revising and presenting counter offers. This critical iterative process is the bread and butter of negotiating an acceptable settlement. Typically, assets can be split in a manner permitting both parties to emerge with sufficient resources to rebuild their lives. With Directed Divorce, your odds of success increase substantially.

Confront and Conquer

In the past, you may have been casual about your families finances. You may have left financial matters to your spouse. If this describes you, you must take a more aggressive approach. Permitting your spouse to handle everything worked in the past, it will not work now. You absolutely must confront and conquer these financial issues or you may be left destitute.

Some of the questions that need to be answered before you accept a settlement are:

   Will I Be Able to Maintain My Current Lifestyle?
   Will I Receive Adequate Support for my Children?
   Will I Have the Means to Educate my Children?
   Will My Children and I Have Health Care?
   Will I Have Adequate Retirement Assets?
   What If My Spouse Dies Before My Children Are Grown?
   What If My Spouse Dies Before I Receive My Settlement?

Directed Divorce can help you answer these crucial questions and many others.

Ignorance is NOT Bliss

The first of the 5 Stages of Grief is "Denial." If you've been served divorce papers by your spouse, now is not the time to put your head in the sand. In fact, time is of the essence. Once divorce papers are filed, you may find that memories fade and indispensable documents disappear. Do not let that happen to you. It's time to go into action, not into denial. There are very specific things that you need to begin pulling together and getting organized. None of these defensive actions preclude you from attempting to reconcile with your spouse, if that's your desire. However, these defensive actions will be indispensable in helping to assure that your rights to community assets are protected. Reiterating, if they haven't already, critical documents and records have a way of disappearing during a divorce. To assure that you have what you need, you'll want to begin gathering these items the second you know that your spouse is filing. Likewise, if you've decided to file, you'll want to have these documents in hand before your spouse is served.

"Take Control - Do Not Be A Passive Observer of Your Own Divorce"

It's Time To Exercise Your Options

If your currently contemplating or presently in a divorce proceeding, you need to begin planning immediately. You have three choices: