Family Law Financial Analyst

Choosing a mediator who is also a Family Law Financial Analyst ensures that the financial division of your estate is based on mathematical reality rather than guesswork.

While most mediators focus on reaching a "meeting of the minds," a financial analyst focuses on the long-term viability of that agreement. I am one of only two or three mediators in the Portland area with a law degree and the amount of specialized financial training that I have.

In my practice, I combine 21 years of legal experience with specialized financial training to act as the architect of your settlement. I don't just help you divide assets; I analyze the tax implications, the future value of retirement accounts, and the hidden costs of keeping a family home. This level of oversight is vital because a settlement that looks fair on paper today can become a financial disaster five years from now if the tax and inflation variables weren't calculated correctly.

From 2023 to 2025, based on my financial training, I composed an elaborate set of finance-related materials, which will be published in late 2026 and were launched for use in my practice in January 2026.

A Family Law Financial Analyst is a professional who has a law degree and substantial additional training in divorce finance. Law school touches on financial concepts but only as they directly relate to the law. When your divorce professional is thoroughly versed in the language of divorce finance, you can be more confident that you will have a more thorough divorce.

A Family Law Financial Analyst is not the same as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst®. I purchased and completed the training modules to become a CDFA® but did not pursue the certification. I concluded that the training was not adequate for my clients' needs. Instead, I spent two years developing a proprietary and comprehensive divorce finance curriculum, which I now use in my practice.

What is a Family Law Financial Analyst?

From the beginning to the end of your mediation process, having a Family Law Financial Analyst as your divorce mediator will provide you with myriad advantages.

It does not make your divorce take longer to complete;. It just makes it more detailed to give you greater understanding of your options and confidence about your choices. My detailed process will make your divorce mediation uniquely comprehensive and complete. I have the depth and breadth of knowledge to identify and understand your assets.

I will give you several options for each financial decision that you must make in mediation – typically at least four options for the handling of each asset and at least three choices for handling each debt or other decision.

I will help you value your assets correctly and understand an important concept called the Net Distributable Value (NDV), which is crucial to the equitable division of assets and liabilities in a divorce in Oregon. Similarly, the tax implications of your assets (and, to a lesser extent, your liabilities) affect the NDV. Most mediators don’t even mention NDV, even though it’s the foundation of the fairness and accuracy of the financial picture. I make it a high priority.

Advantages of a Family Law Financial Analyst

At the outset, I will help you identify your assets. It seems basic, but people frequently make mistakes. The difference between the names of different assets is sometimes subtle, but it can greatly affect the scope of your options and the effects of your choices.

Discovery (the legal term for supplying information and exchanging documents) is the basis for understanding the assets and debts. The information that I will request from you will provide a complete picture of what type of asset it is.

Once I review your discovery documents, it will be clear for each asset or debt:

The type of asset or debt
In whose name it is held or titled (this does not necessarily determine rights and responsibilities in divorce)
The location or financial institution of the asset or debt
More particular information about the specific details of the asset or debt
Some form of valuation or the information necessary to form a basic valuation
The types of taxes that may apply to the ownership, transfer, or sale (for assets)

If necessary, I can help you sort out, based on certain factors whether an asset or debt is marital, partially marital, or separate.

Identifying assets and debts in an Oregon divorce

I will give you several options for each financial decision that you must make in mediation. Typically, I will provide at least four options for the handling of each asset and at least three choices for handling each debt or other decision.

I will share with you what he sees as the pros and cons of each approach. Sometimes, there is one clear approach that people generally take with a particular asset, regardless of their individual circumstances.

Much more often, clients choose to compare the costs and benefits based on the weight they give to each of the factors that I will present for them to consider. Option A might be better for most people, but if Option B fits the circumstances better for a particular family, Option B is the way to go. Ultimately, you're making what you believe are the best decisions for yourselves and your children.

Diverse options and best practices

It's important to understand that the raw value – however you obtain it – is probably not the same as the Net Distributable Value (NDV).

If there are no transaction fees, commissions, taxes, or expenses of sale that will eventually be owed upon the sale of the asset, and assuming that no paid preparation of documents is necessary to handle the asset, the Net Distributable Value would be the same as the raw value.

However, for almost all assets (U.S. currency and depreciated personal property or household goods would be among the limited examples of exceptions to that norm), one or more of those fees, taxes, loan balances, or other expenses would be subtracted from the value.

The NDV is what we use to standardize the comparison of assets.

For example, if you had $25,000 in cash, you would have something more valuable than someone who had a car that was worth $30,000 but had a $10,000 loan balance. If you looked only at the raw value, the person who had the car – financed though it was – would have appeared to have the more valuable asset.

Similarly, a car loan balance of $10,000 at 7% interest is not as much of a financial burden as a credit card with a $10,000 balance at 22% interest.

The NDV is the way to dig beneath the surface to even out those factors to be able to compare one asset to another in a mediation negotiation.

I am skilled and experienced at computing the NDV and applying it asset by asset and debt by debt.

Valuation and Net Distributable Value

In any divorce, you decide numerous issues, and many aspects of your lives that will be affected by the decisions you make in mediation. It is crucial to examine how each decision may affect other seemingly unrelated or less relevant things.

Anyone who is thoughtful about a divorce will aim to take a “big picture” view, but it will be limited by that person’s knowledge. If you don’t know that you should take something into account, you won’t.

If you have chosen between the two options you know about, even though four or five are available, you cannot be sure that you have directed yourself to the best outcome. That’s where your divorce professional can assist you most.

In a divorce, the more your lawyer or mediator knows, the more options that that person can present to you. Because of my extensive knowledge of divorce finance, I can help you with a broader view to consider more issues and options.

I will also help you take a closer look at the nuances of each of your decisions. With the financial questions in a divorce, what seems like a subtle distinction or omission can cause a very different result.

When people say “we want to divide everything 50/50,” that’s usually a simplistic view. Often, the outcome they are envisioning is different, as it should be. Wanting an equitable division of marital assets is a fine and achievable goal, but usually not by each party taking half of each asset, one by one.

I will aid you in understanding the potential short-term and long-term results of the options you may be considering. Your divorce decisions should not hinge on the one outcome you may believe is most likely to transpire.

Considering what is known and anticipating the scenarios that are unpredictable will give you a foundation to adjust to future circumstances.