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.

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

Divorce changes many things at once, but for newly divorced moms, one of the biggest shifts is financial. Almost overnight, you are asked to step into a new role: CFO of your household . That title doesn’t come with a manual. Instead, it comes with decisions. Most women leave a divorce with a combination of assets and obligations such as investments, debt, maintenance, and child support. What often feels overwhelming isn’t any one item, but how everything fits together. The r

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