Building Your Team: Who You Need in Your Corner During a Divorce

Most people facing a divorce call an attorney first. That’s the right instinct; after all, you need good legal representation. But in many cases, an attorney alone isn’t enough.

The financial decisions made during a divorce are largely permanent. A poorly structured settlement is extraordinarily difficult to revisit once it’s signed. The professionals you bring in (and how early you bring them in) can make a significant difference in the outcome.

Here’s who belongs on your team and what each professional is responsible for.

Your Attorney

Think of your divorce attorney as the quarterback of the process. They handle legal filings, negotiate settlement terms, represent your interests in court, and ensure the final agreement is legally sound.

What attorneys are typically not trained to do is model the long-term financial implications of the settlement they’re negotiating. An attorney may split a retirement account and a brokerage account evenly without accounting for the tax treatment of each. If one or both spouses own a company, an attorney may accept a business valuation without knowing whether it reflects the true earning potential. 

These aren’t failures of competence; they’re simply outside the scope of legal training. As a result, attorneys will often rely on other licensed professionals to provide input as they structure a divorce settlement.

Your Financial Advisor

A financial advisor who works with divorcing clients can help fill gaps in your divorce plan. Their job is to translate the legal terms of a settlement into financial outcomes, making sure you understand what you’re agreeing to before it becomes permanent.

During the divorce process, your financial advisor can:

Model the after-tax, after-liquidity value of different settlement scenarios

Identify which assets are truly equivalent and which only appear that way on paper

Flag issues like embedded capital gains, Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) errors, or deferred compensation that hasn’t been properly valued

A financial advisor can also serve as a buffer during emotionally charged negotiations, shifting the conversation from legal positions to financial realities. This can help move things forward more efficiently and with fewer regrets on either side.

Ideally, your financial advisor is engaged before settlement negotiations begin, not after. The further along the process is, the fewer options there are to restructure.

Your CPA

Divorce has significant tax consequences, and many of them aren’t obvious until after the fact. Your CPA’s role is to make sure you understand the tax implications of what you’re agreeing to and help plan around them once the settlement is final.

This includes:

• Analyzing how your filing status change could affect your annual tax bill
• Identifying capital gains exposure in the assets you’re receiving
• Reviewing how alimony and support payments are structured under federal and state tax laws
• Advising on the timing of asset sales or Roth conversions following the divorce

If you’re in the early stages of a divorce and don’t already have a CPA, this is the time to get one. The tax decisions made in the first year after a divorce can significantly affect your financial trajectory, and it’s best to get ahead of those decisions before they are finalized in a divorce agreement.

Supporting Specialists: When You Need More

For many divorcing couples, the core team of attorney, financial advisor, and CPA is sufficient. But depending on your circumstances, additional specialists may be essential rather than optional.

• Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA). A CDFA is a financial professional with specific training in the financial aspects of divorce: asset division, tax consequences, long-term projections, and settlement modeling. If your financial advisor doesn’t have deep divorce-specific experience, a CDFA can fill that gap. In some cases, the CDFA provides specialized divorce analysis while your existing advisor handles broader wealth planning.
• Business valuator. If one spouse owns a business or holds a significant equity stake, the valuation of that business is often the most contested and consequential element of the settlement. A professional business appraiser brings independent credibility to the number, which matters both in negotiation and in court. Without one, you may be relying on a valuation produced by or for the business-owning spouse, which creates an obvious conflict.
• Therapist or counselor. The financial cost of emotional decision-making in divorce is real and underappreciated. Guilt-driven generosity, urgency to exit, and reactive negotiating are patterns that show up repeatedly and tend to produce settlements people regret. A therapist doesn’t have a seat at the negotiating table, but they help you show up to it with a clearer head.

How Your Team Should Work Together

The most effective divorce teams communicate across roles. Your attorney should know what financial scenarios your advisor has modeled. Your CPA should be aware of the asset division your attorney is negotiating. When these professionals work in silos, things fall through the cracks (and that can get expensive for both parties).

You don’t need to orchestrate every conversation yourself. But you should expect coordination. A financial advisor who has worked alongside divorce attorneys before will understand how to collaborate without overstepping. The same goes for a CPA who is familiar with settlement structures.

One practical step is to schedule a joint call or meeting with your team early in the process. Even a single conversation at the outset can prevent misalignment that costs more to unwind later.

Start Building Your Team Early

The most common mistake in a divorce is waiting too long to assemble your team. Financial advisors and CPAs are most useful when they’re involved before the settlement terms are decided, not after.

If you’re at the beginning of this process and aren’t sure where to start, a financial advisor is often the right first call after an attorney. They can help you understand what questions to ask, what documents to gather, and what issues to watch for before anything is agreed to by either spouse.

We’re Here to Help

Talk with a Composition Wealth advisor. Our advisors work with clients navigating major financial transitions, including divorce. Conversations are confidential and focused on understanding your financial situation and goals. Click here to connect with one of our advisors today.

Composition Wealth, LLC (“Composition Wealth”) is an independent, registered investment advisory firm. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Composition Wealth and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure.

Additional information about Composition Wealth's services, fees, and conflicts of interest is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or upon request.