The Collaborative Law financial specialist is a neutral third party financial professional who can assist the Collaborative Law team in optimizing a financial settlement for the clients. Many people are unaware, for example, that spousal support is tax deductible to the person paying support and included on the taxes of the person receiving the support (child support has no tax consequences). One thing the financial specialist might do is to figure out how to structure the settlement so as to maximize the tax advantages for the family following divorce.
Many financial specialists will use software that can graph long term projections based on the contemplated settlement. These projections can help the parties see the lifelong implications of the settlement they enter into now. Of course, the marriage may be short enough where the use of long term projections does not make sense, or the assets of the parties may be straightforward such that the attorneys can handle the financial piece without having to bring in a specialist.