Our first step together is to discuss how you would like your divorce to proceed and identify and issues of high importance to you, such as financial stability and what that means to you. I will explain the process and steps and show you how you control the pace of our progress.

The Declaration of Disclosure (Financial Affidavit, Sworn Financial Statement, etc. depending on your state) is the first and most daunting substantive task we need to complete for your divorce. This step may be necessary if you have questions about the data gathering, or if I need clarification on uploads I have received. Most of the time this step is unnecessary but if there are multiple K-1s, partnership ownerships or additional complexities around assets or debts, we may want to address it in this meeting separately.

We will meet once the first pass of the financial data entry is finished to walk through the forms together and ensure they are accurate and complete. We may have a couple of draft iterations but then you will e-sign the documents (if required in your state) and they will be uploaded to Dropbox with all attachments for you to review. The completion of this step completes the data gathering phase of our process.

This is the first step of the analysis phase of the process. We will work live through division of community (or marital) property scenarios, both on a pre- and post-tax basis. We will identify one or more scenarios that you want to entertain. All scenarios will be uploaded to Dropbox for further contemplation. We may explore additional analysis and reports as situationally appropriate.

After identifying one or more community property division scenarios we will, if applicable, explore spousal and child support. Child support is determined by a state-specific calculation, while spousal support is determined by several factors and not a single calculator. We will explore a range of values to find one that is fair and agreeable utilizing analysis and reports which will demonstrate outcomes graphically and with data tables.

When you have made your informed decision about the path forward and submitted all financial agreements to be included in your Marital Settlement Agreement, we will review additional considerations for your financial future, including tax filing options for the year of divorce, changes to beneficiaries, insurance, financial advisor referrals, estate planning changes, etc.