In my previous blog, I explained how Form 5498 can reveal important information about retirement accounts, contributions, and account values that may not be obvious from a tax return alone. But Form 5498 is just one piece of the financial puzzle. During divorce, the biggest mistakes often happen when someone assumes that the documents they receive tell the entire story. The reality is that financial details are often spread across multiple statements, tax forms, and records.

Divorce has a way of making everything feel urgent. The finances. The paperwork. The uncertainty. The fear of making the wrong decision. Many women believe they need to understand every financial detail immediately before they can move forward. But when you are emotionally overwhelmed, trying to figure everything out at once often leads to paralysis. What you need first is not perfection. You need a plan. As a CPA and Divorce Coach, I help women create clarity.

Why NJ CIS and NY Financial Disclosure Affidavits Feel So Overwhelming

If you’re going through a divorce, one of the most important and stressful documents you’ll complete is the Case Information Statement (CIS). It’s detailed. It’s financial. And for many people, it feels overwhelming. The CIS is not just paperwork. It tells the financial story of your life. Your income, spending, assets, debts, and lifestyle all live inside this document. Judges, mediators, and attorneys rely on it to make major decisions about support, asset division, and fin

Retirement planning and college planning are more connected than most families realize. Retirement accounts are not counted as assets when calculating the Student Aid Index, while savings and investment accounts are. Increasing retirement contributions can lower taxable income, protect assets from the financial aid formula, and potentially improve aid eligibility. In many cases, saving for retirement is not competing with college planning. It is part of a smarter overall stra

When most people think about estate planning, the focus is usually on who gets what . Names are listed, percentages assigned, and the assumption is that the work is done. But when it comes to retirement accounts, how beneficiaries inherit can be just as important — and far more expensive — than who inherits. As a CPA, I see this mistake more often than you’d expect. It’s quiet, technical, and rarely explained clearly — until the tax consequences show up. Separate Inherited