Insights
By: James Hoare
Wealth Planning UK – seeing you through the uncertainty of divorce
How can cash flow modelling help people during settlement negotiations?
While a couple is separating, conversations around a settlement may have already started. Where the separation concerns significant wealth and complex affairs, it can often be difficult for either one of the separating parties to understand fully what is being offered.
At this point, it can be invaluable to have an ally sitting alongside you and your solicitor to help break down what is being put forward, establish if it is sufficient to meet your future financial needs and – crucially – feed this back into the negotiation process. Through our wealth planning cash modelling software, we can illustrate and assess your future requirements in a simple, accessible format.
Complications may result from the involvement of complex structures such as real estate, pensions, private equity interests and trusts.
In the case of private equity assets, unless both parties work in the industry, there is often a disparity in technical understanding between the divorcing partners. The offer may need some ‘unpacking’ to explain the specifics of these assets.
Where a trust or trusts are involved, there is often some ambiguity as to how they should be treated on divorce. In addition, any international dimension automatically makes dividing assets more complex. In these cases, we can work with our internal experts, both domestic and international, who are able to draw on a wealth of experience in dealing with families with complex international affairs and cross-jurisdictional, multi-generational planning. Working closely with you and your solicitor we are able to offer a holistic view of the wider effects that a divorce may have on a family including the next generation.
Support in navigating the settlement process
What is required during this time of flux is the ability to visualise a way through. Talking to a wealth planner can provide a much-needed longer-term view. With the help of our cash flow modelling software and others in our wealth planning toolkit, we help people navigate through the settlement process, in collaboration with their solicitor, to offer support and establish what they are actually being offered and what that means for them.
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