Financial Clarity in Divorce with Expertise from Tanya Aure

Ever wondered how to ensure your financial future is secure during a divorce? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Scott Levin, a family law attorney specializing in divorce mediation, and Tanya Aure, a San Diego Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA) from Southern California. Scott and Tanya unpack the critical role a CDFA plays in navigating the financial complexities of divorce, from separating community property to managing intricate assets like RSUs, pensions, and rental properties. Tanya sheds light on how a CDFA can provide clarity and informed decision-making, making it crucial for those not well-versed in finances to seek their expertise.

In this episode, Scott and Tanya discuss real-world scenarios where a San Diego divorce financial planner impacts the settlement in a positive way with unique and indispensable skills.  Learn how Tanya breaks down various asset classifications—like dividing an IRA in divorce vs taxable brokerage accounts— to help clients understand their financial landscape fully.

Hear about the importance of being informed before finalizing any settlements, and how a California CDFA can help achieve a fair divorce settlement and give you the confidence needed to navigate the mediation process effectively. This episode is a must-listen for anyone aiming to make sound financial decisions during a divorce, ensuring a secure and well-planned future.

Thanks for listening and I hope you'll continue to learn more about how you can peacefully divorce.

As a divorce mediation attorney in California, Scott Levin helps couples figure out the settlement terms and draft enforceable settlement agreements so they can divorce fairly without needing to go to court. Obtain closure peacefully through an amicable divorce. process that protects families and kids.

Visit San Diego Divorce Mediation for more information and to learn more about our mission to help divorcing couples make informed decisions and fair agreements through mediation or book a free virtual consultation.

Scott Levin, attorney, mediator, CDFA®
Chief PeaceKeeper
scottlevinmediation@gmail.com
858-255-1321
San Diego Divorce Mediation & Family Law
www.SanDiegoFamilyLawyer.net

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hey everybody, this is Scott Levin. I am a family law attorney who mediates divorce cases, and I am here with Tanya Aray, a certified divorce financial analyst based in Southern California. Hi, tanya, hi.

Speaker 2: 0:18

Scott.

Speaker 1: 0:19

Well, we've had enough of the pleasantries, let's get to it. Yeah, great. I wanted to ask Tanya to come on today and talk to us about when someone should hire a CDFA, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. So this video assumes that you're navigating a divorce process, and under what circumstances can a divorce someone that's trained specifically as a divorce finance expert come in and help? When is an appropriate time to seek out that help? I have my answers. I'm sure Tanya's answers are better. Tanya, what do you think?

Speaker 2: 0:58

I don't know that my answers are better, but I will tell you, in my experience as a CDFA, the best time to use someone like me or any other CDFA is one. If you weren't necessarily the one to handle the finances. Right, there's a little bit of murkiness. You weren't the one that wrote all the checks, where all the accounts are. The CDFA can help you clarify that picture, right, kind of empower you to really understand where your finances currently sit. Right, you need to make these financial decisions in clarity, solely because this is going to be your future, right? We can't be making decisions left and right without really knowing what you have.

Speaker 2: 1:37

The second instance where I feel like a CDFA is really helpful is when you have a lot of complicated assets. Right, you have RSUs, you've got pensions, a bunch of retirement accounts, rental properties, or if you've been married a long time but you did have separate property prior to the marriage that you want to preserve and make sure that keeps out of the whole community property division, right. So we just wanna tease all that out and a CDFA can do that gigantic plan really and say this is what your financial picture looks like. These are the issues you want to consider. How would you like to proceed?

Speaker 1: 2:16

Yeah, and there are specific calculations that, like a CDFA, knows how to do, that are relevant to all sorts of divorces. So, for example, if you or your spouse owned a home prior to marriage and then there are many circumstances in California by which that property can be still separately owned in part but also owned in part by the community, and it's not a guessing game, there is our ways for it. If I refer my clients to Tanya and she does the math to figure out what the exact breakdown is between the person who owned it before, what equity they have in the house, and what the community or both of you own the community or both of you own. There's also just in mediation, specifically, because Tanya works in divorce in general but in mediation it's hard for people to make settlements when they aren't sure they're understanding the game. And the game is like what's the playing field?

Speaker 1: 3:22

The playing field in finances are like what are all the assets? What are the meaning or impact of different classifications of assets? So there's IRAs, there's Roth IRAs, there's taxable brokerage accounts. Those are not all, dollar for dollar, the same. Depending on your age, right, there's implications to certain things. Tanya can basically say this is what your settlement proposal means to you now and this is what it kind of means to you down the road and that allows you to make confident decisions, which someone like me needs you to make in order for me to be able to help you mediate because I can't force a settlement out of you you have to be willing, and hiring someone like Tanya really gives confidence to people during the mediation process you cannot make these decisions in a void right.

Speaker 2: 4:14

If you do not know all of these answers for your finances, you're not ready to make a decision. That's how I feel about it, because once the decision is made, you're not going to be able to undo it right? So when I work with people, I generally look at what's happening now, but then we also look at okay, so what's going to happen after? What's this look like? What does your budget look like? Is what you are fighting over or what we're going to talk about getting enough for your future? And if it's not, what do we do? Right? Again, cdfas, our whole purpose is to give you clarity, going through the divorce process, about your finances and making sure you make well-informed decisions.

Speaker 1: 4:52

Yeah, and one thing I really enjoy about Tanya is that she's not actually trying to like link on to you after the divorce, right, tanya? Like you're not a financial advisor, so like you're not she's not motivated Like, in some ways. Any professional I refer has to have a bit of authenticity and straight talk. I don't want to refer to someone that is going to fluff around the issue and make the make their client feel like you know to to fight for something that they really aren't entitled to or something like that. They have to be willing to tell the truth to the person too, because that helps people make decisions and that's you know. Another thing I really like about Tonya is that she's she's here to help during this process and then you know, if you never spoke to her again, I'm sure she would be quite fine with that.

Speaker 2: 5:41

Well, scott, I agree in the sense that I am not an advisor. I'm not looking to invest your money after the fact right, I am really here for this specific purpose and then to give you a sketch or a plan moving forward. At the end of the day, me, you know, sugarcoating everything isn't going to do you any favors and I do not want you to come back to me and say you know what you said, this was going to happen. I know I didn't right. We just need to be straight up, upfront and honest right from the beginning, and my clients like that. It works out.

Speaker 1: 6:15

Yeah, so I'm going to put your information in the chat. Tanya Do you want to or is there you want to give your website, or how can people reach out?

Speaker 2: 6:23

Information in the chat is fine. I think that's probably the easiest and best way to do it, cool.

Speaker 1: 6:29

All right, thanks for coming today.

Speaker 2: 6:30

Thank you, Scott, for having me.

Speaker 1: 6:32

I appreciate you.