Therapist, Divorce Coach, Financial Professional and Divorce Attorney: Who Do You Need During Divorce?

Navigating a divorce can be an overwhelming experience, filled with emotional, financial, logistical, and legal challenges. During this time, many people turn to professionals for support, but knowing whether to seek a therapist, a divorce coach, a financial professional or a divorce attorney can be confusing. While all play vital roles, they serve distinct purposes. Understanding the differences can help you make the best choice for your needs.
 
What Does a Therapist Do?
A therapist is a mental health professional trained to address emotional and psychological challenges. Therapists provide a safe space for individuals to process feelings, heal from trauma, and develop coping strategies. Therapists typically help clients understand their past experiences including their childhood and process their feelings associated with major life challenges.
 
Key Responsibilities of a Therapist:

1. Emotional Healing: Therapists help clients work through grief, anger, anxiety, and depression, all of which are common during divorce.
2. Mental Health Support: They can diagnose and treat mental health conditions, such as clinical depression or anxiety disorders.

• Long-Term Growth: Therapists focus on uncovering deeper patterns in behavior and relationships to promote long-term emotional well-being.

 
When to Seek a Therapist:
- You’re struggling with intense emotional pain or mental health issues.
- You want to explore past experiences or trauma that may be affecting your current situation.
- You’re looking for a long-term approach to personal growth and healing.
 
What Does a Divorce Coach Do?
A divorce coach is a professional who provides practical guidance and emotional support specifically related to the divorce process. Divorce coaches are present and future oriented. Unlike therapists, divorce coaches are not focused on mental health treatment but rather on helping clients navigate the logistical and emotional complexities of divorce.
 
Key Responsibilities of a Divorce Coach:

1. Goal-Oriented Guidance: They help clients clarify goals, such as preparing for custody negotiations or organizing financial documents.
2. Emotional Resilience: Divorce coaches offer strategies to manage stress and maintain focus during a chaotic time.
3. Decision-Making Support: They assist clients in making informed decisions about legal, financial, and co-parenting matters.

 
When to Seek a Divorce Coach:
- You’re feeling overwhelmed by the practical aspects of divorce.
- You need help creating a co-parenting plan or managing communication with your ex.
- You want a forward-focused approach to building a new life post-divorce.
 
What Does a Divorce Financial Professional Do?
A divorce financial professional helps clients understand, organize and prioritize their marital assets, income and liabilities. There are many different types of divorce financial professionals including a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA), a Certified Divorce Lending Professional (CDLP), a tax expert, a business evaluator, a forensic accountant and more.
 
Key Responsibilities of a Divorce Financial Professional:

1. Organize and Understand Finances
2. Develop Financial Settlement Proposals
3. Create Creative Solutions When Negotiations Are Stuck

 
When to Seek a Divorce Financial Professional:
-If your finances are complicated or confusing, a CDFA can help clients understand which documents they need to collect, create a budget, create a financial proposal and more.
-If you’re thinking about refinancing your home or purchasing a new home, a CDLP helps clients understand how to get funding for a home and can connect them to funding sources.
-If you have tax questions, a tax expert is helpful to answer your specific tax issues.
-If one of the spouses owns a business, clients can seek a business evaluator.
-If a spouse is concerned that their ex-partner is hiding money, a forensic accountant has tools to find hidden money to improve transparency in financial negotiations.
 
What Does a Divorce Attorney Do?
A divorce attorney helps clients understand the law. A divorce attorney typically isn’t a financial, parenting or mental health expert. An attorney is an expert on the law in a specific jurisdiction.
 
Key Responsibilities of a Divorce Attorney:

1. Child Custody Standards in your jurisdiction
2. Marital Assets, Alimony & Child Support – what you may be entitled to or may have to pay depending on your specific situation
3. Your Rights under the law.

 
When to Seek a Divorce Attorney:
-When you have any legal questions, including what is the process in your jurisdiction.
-If you and your soon-to-be-ex are in disagreement over child custody and/or finances.
-If you’re being physically or emotionally threatened or cut off from the children or finances.
 
Many people think a divorce attorney is the first and only professional you need when you’re going through divorce. Divorce attorneys are a very important part of the process, but you need to know when to use your divorce attorney. It depends on your specific situation and what you're not in agreement on with your soon-to-be-ex - finances, parenting or something else - seeking professional advice from the right divorce professional can save you from making costly mistakes in the long run.