Ask a collaborative professional: financial conflict during divorce
Collaborative Practice Toronto is a community of collaborative professionals working to provide information to families considering a collaborative divorce. We also exist as a resource for legal, family, and financial professionals looking to become involved with Collaborative Practice. We regularly ask our members to provide our blog readers with expert answers to common questions we receive about Collaborative Practice.
This week, Jamie Jocsak spoke with us about the biggest causes for financial conflict during a divorce and offered some helpful ways that separating spouses can avoid that conflict.
Q: What are the most common causes of financial conflict during a divorce and how could a collaborative approach help?
There are many common causes for financial conflict during a divorce, including issues like disputes over the correct value of certain family property or even missing property. Couples will often disagree about who will retain certain assets, like the matrimonial home or pension assets, and will commonly have difficulty with equalizing property and support payments.
But with all of these opportunities for financial conflict during a divorce, there are also opportunities to avoid financial conflict:
- Spouses should provide complete and full disclosure of all assets. This includes all employment related benefits, including unvested assets (i.e. stock plans, stock options, pensions, etc.).
- Both spouses should have an understanding of what they are entitled to and what they are not entitled to.
- When a financial professional needs to be retained (i.e. to value certain assets, financial projections, assist with tax issues, etc.), a jointly retained financial professional that both spouses trust can reduce the potential for conflict.
- Spouses should maintain open lines of communication and try and be flexible and open minded with regards to different settlement options.
Financial conflict within collaborative law
The collaborative approach provides an ideal environment to avoid certain types of financial conflict and to effectively negotiate around other sources of financial conflict. The very nature of the collaborative approach ensures full disclosure of information and open lines of communication.
Also, a collaborative practice team can involve more than legal professionals and will often include financial professionals who are jointly retained by the individuals wishing to separate. The financial members of the collaborative team can participate in collaborative meetings to ensure that both spouses feel comfortable with the values being assigned to all assets and to help the spouses fully understand the consequences of various settlement options. This addition of financial professionals in Collaborative Practice typically results in a much smoother and quicker negotiation process.
Jamie Jocsak, FSA, FCIA
Financial Professional
BCH Actuarial Services Inc.
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