Sycamore’s divorce services are designed to support you throughout your divorce. We divide the divorce process into stages to allow you to focus on specific goals and work through them progressively. Sycamore works cooperatively and collaboratively with your other divorce professionals throughout the process. Sycamore offers a free initial consultation during which we can discuss where you are in the divorce process and where we think you can most benefit from our services. At that time, we will provide an estimate for the cost of our services.
Phase 1: Divorce Prepparation
- Prepare Net Worth statement
- Compile, organize, & identify the value of assets
- Analyze liabilities
- Prepare schedule of expenses pre/post-divorce
- Perform long-term cash flow analysis
- Determine immediate financial needs
Phase 2: Divorce Settlement Analysis & Negotiation
- Evaluate financial implications of a proposed division of assets
- Estimate maintenance needs & ability to pay
- Analyze long term cash flow & net worth
- Compare & evaluate financial aspects of settlement scenarios
- Determine the financial trade-offs of maintenance & child support
- Suggest alternative settlement proposals if necessary
- Project long-term effects of financial settlement alternatives
- Identify & prioritize financial aspects of settlement negotiation options
Phase 3: Divorce Recovery
- Assist with the transfer / liquidation of assets
- Discuss & prioritize financial goals
- Establish new budget & post-divorce financial plan
- List & review changes to make after settlement is final
- Recommend allied professionals as needed
- Monitor implementation & results of new financial plan
Sycamore’s mediation services create a safe environment in which divorcing couples can explore options, make decisions, and reach their own agreements. Sycamore’s mediation services are designed to achieve the following goals:
- Reduce conflict
- Increase control over negotiations
- Improve communication between spouses
- Focus on client generated solutions
- Reach a resolution more quickly
- Increase privacy
- Consider long-term financial goals, not just immediate assets and income
Your mediator, Chuck Clifton, is trained in the Mosten-Guthrie Family & Divorce Mediation process, and he is both a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. Combined with decades of negotiation experience, Chuck examines and analyzes the financial issues of a divorce providing spouses with the information they need to cooperatively make decisions.
Mediation Process
- Two-Hour Meetings. Sycamore uses a series of two-hour meetings to work through the issues the spouses are seeking to resolve through mediation. The initial list of topics will be established at the first meeting and then refined through each successive meeting. These meetings are typically two weeks apart, allowing time to review prior decisions and prepare for the next meeting.
- Structured Agendas + Room to Adjust. Each meeting will have a specific scope identified in advance to help the spouses prepare for the topics to be discussed. Since issues may come up organically during mediation, the process allows for deferring topics to future meetings.
- Work Between Meetings. Spouses and Sycamore will work between meetings to adjust any analysis from the last meeting and to gather information / prepare analysis for the next meeting.
- Memorandum of Understanding. At the conclusion of the mediation process, Sycamore will prepare a Memorandum of Understanding summarizing all agreements made during mediation. Spouses can provide this to their legal counsel to facilitate preparation of their separation and property settlement agreement(s).
Mediation Topics
Topics covered during the mediation are tailored to the couple’s needs and include but are not limited to:
- Division of assets and debts
- Spending plans
- Spousal support payments
- Retirement & investment account review
- Long-term cash flow analysis
- Child custody and co-parenting plans
- Child support payments
- Insurance coverage review
- Business ownership issues
- Estate planning updates