If you take away nothing else from this article, know this: It doesn’t matter whose name is on that bank account or 401(k) account or whatever. When it comes to divorce, unless there was a prior agreement to the contrary, half of that money will be yours.
“Tax season” would seem to end on April 15th. Right? Well, for a lot of people, that answer is “Yes,” but for the affluent divorcing women that you and I both serve, the answer is more like “Not really.”
The AFI—the Affidavit of Financial Information—is perhaps the quintessential first step of your case with any divorce client. It’s also probably the step where things, all too often, grind to a halt.
There are lots of affluent business-owning men out there, who end up divorcing their wives. In many instances, the wife has spent many years helping to build that business. As a CPA, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional, and a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® professional who provides divorce financial counseling for affluent women, let me try and unpack some of the implications, for you, here.
When affluent couples divorce, the affluence is often a product of multiple real estate holdings. I see a lot of these cases; I’m sure you do, too. These are some of the most complicated apples-to-oranges asset-valuation challenges there are.
What’s the difference between “equity” and “groceries”? Picture this: You walk into the supermarket. You load up your cart. You proceed to the checkout line. When you get to the cashier and are told the total amount, you whip out your… latest mortgage statement and point to the “projected value” of your house??
Let me be candid: As an attorney, you deal with divorce every day. There’s likely little you haven’t seen. As for me, I’m a CPA, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional, and a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® professional.
“My husband and I co-own different real estate properties. Now that we’re divorcing, what should I do?” Among the affluent divorcing women I count as clients, the issue of multiple real-estate holdings is fairly common.
In this article, I’d like to, quickly, arm you (and her) with a little information you both can use to help her minimize her tax burden, while helping to craft an equitable settlement—including the tax portion.
