5. UNCOORDINATED ADVICE MISSES THE ‘BIG PICTURE’ (5th Part in a Series)
Rowers need to all be pulling in the same direction for the boat to move forward. Too often professionals and clients do not coordinate or collaborate resulting in differing advice. This potentially can lead to costly mistakes. While advice from different professionals may be correct, if not taken in context and coordinated, you may end up at odds with different trusted advisers.
Admittedly, most individuals don’t go through a divorce very often and shouldn’t be expected to know all the different shades of grey. That’s why you go to professionals – for their advice. Don’t expect that every professional- not even an experienced Boston divorce attorney – has the answers so you really need to get the perspective of different experts who are available to help them.
Part of the problem is that each professional has a valid but different perspective based on their experience and training. Without seeing the ‘Big Picture’ means that the advice and the impact of recommendations may be lost in translation.
Maybe the agreement failed to address how to split valuable tax losses from previous years. Maybe there is no mention about post-divorce life or disability insurance. Maybe there was no thought provided for how to best qualify for college financial aid. Maybe the credit card users haven’t been updated exposing a party to potentially higher credit liability and lower credit scores. Maybe the treatment of basis in certain business or investment assets is not properly considered. Maybe there are taxable investments that need to be divided but no discussion is made about the most tax-efficient way to do this.
Consider asking your divorce attorney to be part of a coordinated team that collaborates directly with tax, financial, and insurance professionals so that the good advice you receive is actually implemented and everyone gets on the same page.
Just because there is a potential problem doesn’t mean that you need to avoid it. You really need to be open to bringing together a team and being open to the views that they will provide.
To help organize yourself, consider the tools available as part of your free Divorce Shield plan.
