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Financial Planning > Behavioral Finance

2 Prominent Divorce Advisors Tie the Knot

By Janet Levaux

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Pacific Divorce Management of San Diego and Michelle Smith of New York-based Source Financial Advisors said Wednesday that advisors can use their divorce financial planning methods now via a franchise arrangement.

As two leaders in the divorce financial planning field, “We have taken intellectual property from both businesses and created one set of best practices, which we believe will be very appealing to advisors across the country,” said Justin Reckers, founder and CEO of Pacific Divorce Management, in a press release.

According to the new partners, divorce affects some 2 million people in the United States every year. “If a couple never had children or their children are grown, money is the only thing to argue about in the divorce proceedings,” Reckers said.

“Knowing that Justin and his team have taken a deep dive and really own the space in California, as I have and do in New York, creates a kind of bi-coastal nirvana for other advisors who may wish to join us,” said Michelle Smith, CEO and founder of Source Financial Advisors, in a statement.

A key factors mention when discussing their lack of success in the divorce financial planning niche is that they fear they’ll make a mistake, which leads them to turn down referrals, Smith notes.  

“This is one of the primary reasons we decided to create this franchise,” Reckers said. “We want to close the knowledge gap, provide a safety net and bolster the advisor’s confidence level. When advisors invest in this franchise, they will receive a turnkey business model with an accelerated time frame, which does not require them to cultivate and develop this business on their own.”  

The partnership, structured as a franchise arrangement, offers advisors two weeks of training. “Franchisees benefit from ongoing support from leaders in the industry, through e-mails, newsletters, a help desk and even onsite support with complicated or large cases, if needed,” he added.

“Having the benefit of two nationwide experts with all these years of expertise can cut off an enormous amount of training and development time, perhaps as much as two years, which is huge,” said Smith.

Smith holds the Certified Divorce Financial Analyst credential and is a divorce mediator. Before starting Source Financial Advisors, she worked as a financial advisor on Wall Street at Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber and Wachovia Securities (starting in 1986).

Reckers, CFP, trained in family law, specifically mediation and collaborative divorce. He is a board member of the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts, Collaborative Practice California and the Collaborative Family Law Group of San Diego. 

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