Resources

A CDFA® professional is a financial professional skilled at analyzing data and providing guidance on the financial issues of divorce. The role of the CDFA® professional is to assist the client and his or her attorney to understand how the decisions he or she makes today will impact the client’s financial future.

Attorney Assisted Negotiation   
The action to dissolve a marriage by a negotiated agreement between the parties with an out-of-court settlement.  

Mediation  
An individual who has been trained to assist people in coming to an agreement, especially one that reconciles differences between disputants.  

Collaborative Divorce 
A team approach to divorce in which divorcing couples obtain professional help from specialists in the legal, financial, and mental health fields; when needed, additional professionals (including child/parenting experts) may be called in to help the couple settle their case. 

Method of dividing property based on a number of considerations (such as length of marriage, differences in age, wealth, earning potential, and health of partners involved) to achieve an equitable and fair distribution—not necessarily an equal one.

Common law marriage is allowed in a minority of states. A common law marriage is a legally recognized marriage between two people who have not purchased a marriage license or had their marriage solemnized by a ceremony. Not all states have statutes addressing common law marriage. 

In community property states, any property not deemed “separate” (i.e., owned before the marriage or obtained by gift or inheritance) is “community” property and will likely be subject to a 50/50 division.

Accumulated income and property acquired by the spouses during the marriage subject to equitable division by the court. States will vary on their precise definition of what is to be included in marital property, sometimes excepting property acquired by gift or inheritance. 

Generally considered any property owned before marriage (earned or acquired by gift or inheritance), acquired during the marriage by one partner using only that partner’s separate property, or earned after a formalized agreement. This definition will vary from state to state.

Hybrid property includes assets that may have once been separate, but over time has generated income, increased in value and/or is mixed with marital property over time.

A deed that conveys to the grantee only such interests in property as the grantor may have, the grantee assuming responsibility for any claims brought against the property.

A court ruling earmarking a portion of a person’s retirement or pension fund payments to be paid to his/her ex-spouse as part of a division of marital assets. The fund administrator makes payments directly to the non-employee ex-spouse at the time of the divorce or at the time the employee’s retirement payments are to begin.