Everybody wants to be a game changer, but few know how to do so.
An appropriately diverse divorce team has a range of team players, including the attorney, financial planner, accountant, appraiser, mediator, and divorce mortgage planner. Every team member has a significant role in ensuring the divorcing client is set to succeed post-decree.
A solid divorce team with the right players can be the true game changer in divorce.
The Benefits of Having a Diverse Divorce Team
Diverse skills allow the divorce team to think about a specific problem in a different, and often more strategic, way. Looking at a problem from different angles and drawing on a wealth of experience and knowledge from all team members allows for innovative and creative solutions.
- Diverse Teams Fill In The Knowledge Gap | The reality is that no one knows everything. So teams solve problems faster when they’re more cognitively diverse.
- Diverse Teams Fill In the Perspective Gap | Perspective is the capacity to view or think about a situation or problem wisely and reasonably.
- Diverse Teams Fill In the Experience Gap | Experience mostly comes through time, but it can also come from focused learning and specialization.
Leadership is about getting things done with and through other people. When leaders commit to building a diverse team and utilizing each person’s unique contribution, the overall team can experience more success in a shorter period, translating to a better outcome for the divorcing couple.
How Does a CDLP™ Fit Into the Divorce Team
The CDLP™ brings tremendous value to the divorce team during the settlement process because of their stronger knowledge, perspective, and experience of the entire divorce process than other mortgage professionals. In addition, their understanding of the intersection between family law, financial and tax planning, real property, and mortgage planning truly separates them from other mortgage professionals in the industry.
Certified Divorce Lending Professionals have a completely different perspective when looking at a divorce settlement agreement and participating in the actual settlement or mediation process with the remainder of the professional divorce team. A CDLP™ doesn’t look at the divorce settlement agreement and how it applies to the borrower’s mortgage application. They have a much wider viewpoint and understanding of the entire process – a deeper and stronger perspective of the overall impact divorce has on the divorcing borrower.
One of the most important team members in the divorce process is the financial neutral. The financial neutral is an impartial expert in his or her field with a primary role of educating all participants, including the divorcing couple, their attorneys, and other divorce professionals, as to the financial implications of divorce.
Financial Advisors are most commonly known as financial neutrals in a divorce case but what about when you drill deeper into the marital home and mortgage planning?
When a primary asset of the marital estate is the marital home and other real estate assets, having a Certified Divorce Lending Professional (CDLP™) as a financial neutral on the divorce team becomes increasingly desirable.
In many divorce settings, negotiations break down over financial issues or concerns, oftentimes leading to litigation. The CDLP™, as a financial neutral, offers both parties a balanced, thorough financial evaluation of the current mortgage and future mortgage financing requirements and offers realistic solutions to obstacles in negotiations.
Depending on each individual situation, the CDLP™ can perform a variety of functions in a collaborative divorce, such as:
- Assisting with the collaborative process by offering solutions and needs for both spouses to obtain immediate and future mortgage financing.
- Providing guidance on the affordability and financing needs to support an Equity Buy-Out and refinance of the marital home.
- Offering an analysis of the ability of one spouse to meet mortgage financing guidelines using support income such as maintenance and/or child support as qualifying income.
- Analyzing debt pay-off situations to meet mortgage financing requirements and offering solutions for pay-offs.
- Identifying and gathering necessary financial documentation to assist with mortgage financing needs.
In all scenarios, the CDLP™ financial neutral is focused on assisting clients and lawyers in generating feasible mortgage financing options and understanding the future financial impact of those options. Financial neutrals should not only be savvy when it comes to various mortgage financing issues but also be keen problem solvers and be able to offer realistic solutions to guide decision-making.
A successful divorce settlement is a result of putting the pieces of the puzzle together in such a manner that both divorcing spouses come out of the divorce whole. Each member of the professional divorce team should bring value and perspective that benefits the overall outcome and success.
Working with a Certified Divorce Lending Professional (CDLP™) and incorporating Divorce Mortgage Planning into the divorce settlement may help both spouses obtain new mortgage financing post-divorce.
Contact a CDLP™ today for a copy of the Divorcing your Mortgage Homeowner Workbook, a guide to credit, real estate, and mortgage financing after divorce. This workbook will help you get organized, be prepared, and understand your mortgage financing position whether you are needing to refinance the marital home in an Equity Buy-Out situation or prepare to sell and purchase a new home post-divorce.
As a divorce mortgage planner, the CDLP™ can help divorcing homeowners make a more informed decision regarding their home equity solutions while helping the professional divorce team identify any potential conflicts between the divorce settlement, home equity solutions as well as real property issues.
This is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal or tax advice. You should contact an attorney or tax professional to obtain legal and tax advice. Interest rates and fees are estimates provided for informational purposes only and are subject to market changes. This is not a commitment to lend. Rates change daily – call for current quotations. The information contained in this newsletter has been prepared by, or purchased from, an independent third party and is distributed for consumer education purposes.
Copyright 2022—All Rights Divorce Lending Association
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