Skip to content

Collaborative Divorce — Separating Together

Collaborative divorce is an alternative process for the peaceful resolution of disputes involving parents, children, and family relationships. It is the most holistic path to a positive and healthy dissolution of marriage. Collaborative divorce is a team-based approach made up of attorneys, a neutral financial professional, and a family coach that educate, support and guide you in reaching balanced, respectful and lasting agreements. It is a voluntary and interest-based process where you establish your interests and goals. The clients talk with each other in a safe place while coming together to make decisions for yourself and your family, both during and after the process. This allows you to productively interact on behalf of yourself and your children. The collaborative process keeps the decision-making control in your family's hands.

Money is often one of the biggest issues in any divorce. Yet the collaborative divorce process is the only divorce process that includes a financial professional as part of your divorce team. The collaborative setting allows for spouses to engage cooperatively about their financial questions and concerns. The financial professional's role is to help you and your spouse understand your current financial situation and brainstorm options for your future. The process begins with organizing the collected financial information into useful schedules to enable a thorough understanding of your current financial situation. Working with you and your spouse to meet both of your needs as much as possible, the financial professional analyzes possible settlement options and can offer unique solutions that would not ordinarily be presented in a court setting. The financial professional can also explain the tax implications for various settlement options, helping you and your spouse to realistically evaluate and compare each scenario presented.

Powers Forensic Accounting, LLC, has a neutral financial professional experienced in collaborative divorce who has achieved a high standard of collaborative law specific training. Chrissie A. Powers is an unbiased financial expert with experience working on behalf of both spouses to provide a detailed analysis of the financial aspects of their marriage and to help determine the immediate, short and long-term financial impact of the proposed divorce settlements. Ms. Powers is a member of the Central Ohio Academy of Collaborative Divorce Professionals (COACDP).

Our collaborative divorce services include:

  • Helping you and your spouse gather the financial information you need
  • Indexing comprehensive financial documents and identifying gaps in information and missing assets
  • Preparing the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth
  • Identifying and tracing separate property
  • Determining economic income for support purposes
  • Creating multiple financial scenarios and options for peaceful resolution
  • Helping you analyze and evaluate multiple support and asset division proposals
  • Providing tax analysis of support and property settlements
  • Compiling and analyzing pre and post-divorce budgets for you and your spouse
  • Assisting in client education of finances
  • Helping you create a financial settlement that will meet the needs of you, your spouse, and your children, to the greatest extent possible

"As a neutral financial professional, I work with the family and the collaborative team to reach a positive outcome for your family's new normal. The team and family calmly and respectfully discuss your interests and common goals. The parties may express their financial concerns separately or in a joint meeting with me. I will work to balance and resolve the needs and wants, and financial realities of the parties. Depending on the families' understanding of their finances, my role can vary significantly. I can prepare a marital balance sheet, assist with budgets, run support scenarios, trace separate property, etc.

I love teaching and assisting families in understanding their finances, both now and in the future. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me." – Chrissie

For more information on our other services, please visit the links below.

"Thank you so much—you were amazing and I will be recommending you to anyone who asks me professionally!"

Powers Forensic - Chrissie Powers

Powers Forensic Accounting, LLC

421 West State Street, Suite 216
Columbus, OH 43215

614-745-5192

email icon Twitter icon LinkedIn Icon