Attorney Services Include:

Trial Consulting

• Case Theory Development, Cost/Benefit and Risk/Reward analysis, Discovery assistance, Settlement Proposal creation for financial issues in your litigated case.

Expert Testimony

• We provide testimony on all financial issues save for business valuations

Stipulated Neutral for the Court

• Court appointed or agreed upon neutral expert on financial issues

Early Expert Neutral Evaluation

• Agreed upon neutral expert on financial issues working to settle financial disagreements before trial

Client Relationship Manager

• Skilled and empathetic relationship management includes setting and maintaining expectations, completing homework and follow up items

Why Hire Wellspring Divorce Advisors?

State of the Art Divorce Financial Planning and Forecasting Tools: Accurate and comprehensive analysis tools at our fingertips including long term projections, retirement plan valuation, support scenario comparisons, and negotiation tools including child support and alimony guidelines. National network of experts available for consultation on complicated and rare financial circumstances.

Cost Effective Client Relationships: The make-up of our staff allows us to incorporate multiple levels of hourly billing rates to help keep costs down.

Unbiased and Independent Analysis and Recommendations: Wellspring Divorce Advisors provides an independent and unbiased view of the financial situation with no vested interest in any outcome.

Technical Skills and Analysis Provided

Discovery consulting

• Hire Wellspring Divorce Advisors to assist you and your staff in developing a comprehensive and effective financial discovery.
• We will assist in drafting informal document requests
• We will assist in drafting customized interrogatories
• We will help you prepare questions for depositions of adverse witnesses
• We will attend depositions with you to assist in directing questions in real time
• We will review preliminary documents and advise counsel regarding any potential areas of concern regarding opposing parties disclosure.

Preparation of net worth statements

• Every case must start with a general understanding of the marital balance sheet, also known as a net worth statement.
• We will work with your client to gather information necessary to prepare preliminary net worth statements and augment them as additional data is gathered to offer a base-line for asset and debt division.
• As settlement negotiations begin will prepare alternative scenarios to help counsel and client compare the outcome of different settlement options

Preparation of cash flow statements

• Everything flows from cash flow
• We will work with your client to develop accurate and defensible cash flow statements and budgets
• As settlement negotiations begin will prepare alternative scenarios to help counsel and client compare the outcome of different settlement options

Income available for support calculations

• You cannot determine a person’s income by simple review of a tax return in our modern world of complicated investments and small business.
• We are trained and experienced in analyzing and determining a parties’ income available for support
• We will review and analyze tax returns, business documents, human resources documents, brokerage statements and depository receipts to compile and accurate and defensible analysis of youir client or opposing parties’ income available.
• Testimony on imputation of income to assets held for investment

Marital Standard of Living and Lifestyle Analysis

• Lifestyle analysis is a complicated combination of backward looking forensic accounting and forward looking lifestyle interviews
• We will prepare accurate and defensible lifestyle analysis for use in analysis of the Marital Standard of Living

Characterization of Net Worth Statement – Tracing and apportionment analysis

• Many jurisdictions require the tracing of Community vs. Separate property or Marital Property in order to confirm character and award an asset to one spouse or the other.
• Characterization is a delicate balance of documentation and strategy.
• We will help you and your client to understand the risk vs. reward of making claims regarding characterization
• We will prepare accurate and defensible apportionment analysis “tracing” and exhibits for use in negotiations and/or litigation

Credit and Reimbursement tracing

• Many jurisdictions allow for credits and reimbursements to be calculated at the end of a case for use of joint funds to pay separate debt, use of a home during pendency of a case, shared expenses and many other complications
• We will prepare accurate and defensible analysis and reports for use in negotiations and/or litigation

Consultation regarding economic value of real property assets

• We do not prepare valuations ourselves but we are trained and experienced in the review of real property and other valuations

Time Rule Formula analysis

• Many jurisdictions rely heavily on the use of time-rule formulas to determine the character of assets such as pensions, retirement accounts and other co-mingles assets
• We will prepare accurate and defensible apportionment analysis using time-rule formulas for use in settlement and/or litigation
• We will prepare present value analysis of defined benefit plans for use in negotiations.

Consultation regarding fiduciary duty of parties related to investment and business management decisions

• Many jurisdictions have become interested in the concept of fiduciary duty during a marriage and the pendency of dissolution proceedings
• Wellspring Divorce Advisors can offer cost vs. benefit analysis and ultimately testimony where you believe a fiduciary duty has been breached

Analysis of economic value of dependency exemptions, tax credits, and filing status decisions

• We will analyze and advice counsel and client as to the economic value of claiming dependency exemptions, tax credits and tax filing status

Placement of Life Insurance as Security for Spousal and Child Support Obligations

• We can assist in the placement of life insurance as security for child support, alimony and equalization payments

Consultation on deferred division of non-qualified accounts not subject to division by QDRO

• Many non-qualified deferred compensation plans common in the executive compensation world are not divisible by QDRO.
• We will help counsel to determine whether accounts are divisible by some other process
• If accounts are not divisible we will offer advice on deferred division strategies

Alimony Recapture and Child Contingency rule analysis

• The tax intricacies of Alimony are well known to the legal community. What is not well known is the strategy available for avoiding the complications of Recapture and Child Contingency Rules
• We can offer analysis and advice on structing of alimony payments with the complicated tax code in mind.

Lump sum alimony buy-out analysis

• Many negotiated settlements contemplate the lump sum buy-out of alimony.
• We prepare accurate and defensible analysis of the many options for calculating buy-out amount including
  • Linear rate of return method
  • Safe withdrawal method
  • Annuity purchase method
  • Fixed income yield method
• Consultation on best practices for ensuring client follow up on MSA financial provisions such as beneficiary designation changes, account division and clean-up, etc…
  • Many attorneys consider their job done when a judgment is entered. We consider our job far from done.
  • We provide transition management services for your clients to insure the settlement you worked hard to negotiate is enforced through asset transfer, title changes, beneficiary changes, etc..