It may be that your financial situation does not justify the involvement or cost of a Financial Adviser because it is so straightforward with very little or no pension assets, no savings or investments, no business interests, and no requirement to consider maintenance.
If you are separating and your divorce involves a consideration of business interests, you and the mediator will need to decide fairly early on, together with your solicitors if you have any, among other things:
In many divorce cases, separated couples talk about trying to achieve an equal division of the assets in situations where many of the assets significantly differ in nature and type.
Some financial experts are able and willing to help you with compiling a monthly budget for discussions in mediation so that you and your former partner can fully explore your options regarding maintenance.
Most pensions on divorce experts (PODE) prefer not to have direct contact with the people they are preparing a report for, preferring to remain arm’s length, as a neutral (referred to in the legal system as a single joint expert).
When you meet with the Financial Adviser/Neutral, you and your mediator will need to decide whether it would be beneficial for the mediator to attend as the main facilitator of the whole process. Our recommendation is that they do.
The Financial Adviser/Neutral is a financial expert who is trained, qualified, and experienced in working with one or both of you together, in a ‘neutral impartial capacity’, providing you with specialist financial information, advice, and assistance, relevant and appropriate to your situation and what you are both trying to achieve (a fully informed, fair financial outcome).
When you and your former partner have both met with the mediator for your MIAM (mediation information and assessment meetings), the mediator will help you prepare for your financial mediation process in several ways, depending on your situation and the support you need.
