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When divorce isn’t in the picture

For the happily married

If divorce isn’t part of your plan, you’re like many women we’ve met.

For some, divorce never entered the picture… but an illness or death did. For others, divorce appeared seemingly out of the blue. Many of the affluent women we serve* come to us after seeing divorces pop up among friends with long marriages—friends who were completely blindsided by their husbands’ desire to end their partnerships.

Take Irene, a Connecticut native. She and Will were high school sweethearts who married after graduating from college. Will became a physician and Irene supported his career by taking on the management of their household and children. Shortly after their 35th Christmas together—a happy time with family and friends—Irene was stunned when Will asked for a divorce. Unknown to almost anyone, he had been seeing a younger woman who worked at his medical practice.

At age 57, Irene had never had a career outside of the home. She had no way to support even a reduced lifestyle without Will’s income. Alone, she couldn’t afford even the property taxes and insurance on the home she had so lovingly cared for all those years.

This may never happen to you, and we sincerely hope it doesn’t… but we’d like to help make you more financially aware and thus, financially stronger regardless of what your future holds.  (It’s not just what you don’t know that can get you into trouble, it’s not even knowing that you don’t know!)

A divorce financial advisory firm that helps women who may never divorce?

If you’re surprised to discover that a divorce financial advisory firm can also help women who may never encounter divorce, you’re not alone.

Fortunately, many women never encounter divorce. Others, like Irene, are shell-shocked when divorce unexpectedly enters the picture—and some women initiate divorce themselves, though they would never have anticipated it when they first married.

It’s our mission to help prepare these women so they’re not sent scrambling into a panic if an unexpected divorce, illness or death does happen. If these don’t happen, our goal is to help each woman make her financial future as stable and strong as possible...no matter where she lives or what her situation.     

Just in Case™: Secure Your Financial Future

Our 60-minute Just in Case™: Secure Your Financial Future session (referred to by CBS News as our Divorce 101 program; see the video here) quickly shows a married woman what she should be aware of and what she should do now to strengthen her current and future financial position. Our session is designed to help her deal with a future divorce—no matter how unlikely now—or the death or illness of her spouse, during which she may find herself suddenly in charge of critical financial decisions on behalf of her family.

Sign up for our Just in Case™ session and you’ll learn how to:

• Secure the essential documents you and your family could need later
• Create, fund, and protect an emergency account in the amount right for you
• Understand how your state’s laws can affect the allocation of your assets and liabilities
• Establish separate credit, and how a new federal law might affect your ability to do so
• Become more involved in family finances now, and why it’s so important

Don’t assume these critical financial decisions should or will be made by a family member, friend or CPA in the event of a divorce or illness. Even these well-meaning, otherwise highly competent people may not be as qualified to give financial advice as you might think—which you unfortunately may not discover until it’s much too late.

And while advice from an experienced professional like a CPA should ordinarily be carefully weighed, in the event of a divorce it’s best to consider advice only from financial professionals who are trained and experienced specifically in matters related to divorce. Even a professional generalist like a CPA can unwittingly give advice that turns out to be detrimental in a divorce settlement situation.

 (If you own a business, there are many other factors that can affect not only you but your business and employees in the event of a divorce, death, or illness. Please see our page for women business owners for more information.)

Your Just in Case™ session will be individualized to your situation: your preferences and abilities, your marital assets and income, your own earnings, the ages of everyone in your family, and much more.   

Making many husbands happy—really

Our Just in Case™: Secure Your Financial Future program can have benefits beyond preparing you for any future divorce, death, or illness. Consider this: a 2011 LPL Financial study of 1,000 affluent investors found 75% of men wish their wives or significant others would take a more active, collaborative role with their joint finances.

Your Just in Case™ session will show you how to get more involved with family finances, which will leave you stronger financially regardless of what the future holds. If you're in the New York City area, we're available to hold your session in person; if you're elsewhere in the United States, we'll send your materials in advance and hold your session online or over the phone.

Contact us to schedule your session today. We treat all our clients with the utmost of privacy and discretion.