Role Of The IFA in Dovetail

Robert Cresswell is an Independent Financial Adviser at Gordian Financial Services Ltd. He has worked with divorcing couples and Family Lawyers for over half his career and attended the very first accreditation course provided by Resolution in 2006. Resolution is the Governing body for family lawyers and by attending their course and successfully passing their examination Robert was able to gain accreditation to demonstrate his understanding of the divorce process.

There are two roles that Robert takes in this process, the first being known as the Financial Neutral and the second known as the Implementer.

The role of the Financial Neutral is to attend the meetings with the couple and their collaboratively trained lawyers. The purpose of the meetings is to reach a solution for the couple on all aspects of their divorce. The Financial Neutral is present to help take into account the financial structures that the couple had accumulated during their marriage, helping to produce answers to the “What if?” questions that arise when a couple are trying to reach a financial settlement over how these assets are divided.

An example of the areas covered may be:

• To break down the complex pension contracts and provide projections of the benefits for both people at their retirement so that a fair division of the future pension income can be reached.
• Where appropriate, to bring in specialist mortgage advisers to provide mortgage costs so that both parties to the divorce can openly discuss their needs and aspirations for their housing needs after divorce.
• To discuss the tax implication of moving assets after separation has occurred, where appropriate an accountant will be involved.
• Working with both people to review income and growth objectives from their existing investments, helping to find a way of dividing them that works for both people.
• To discuss the implications for cancelling existing Life Assurance and other protection policies and the costs of replacing them. This includes endowment plans where we can obtain any potential sale values they may have on the 2^nd hand endowment market as well as the surrender values.

The Financial Implementer completes the transactions to meet the terms of the settlement.

Robert can perform both roles with the consent of both people. It is essential to separate out the two roles and that is why the Dovetail Divorce Fee covers the cost of the IFA acting as the Neutral. The fee is shared equally by both couples ensuring impartiality is maintained during this part of the process and removing any potential bias to the Neutral's advice.

Any further work undertaken after the financial settlement is agreed is provided under the capacity of Implementer and separate arrangements to cover the cost of this advice and service are made between the Implementer and the client carrying out the work.