Do your divorcing female clients struggle to understand the real-life impact of offers? Here’s how a financial expert can help

Here’s a scenario which you might have experienced frequently with your divorcing female clients. You’ve discussed the financial offer on the table, and they tell you: “It looks fair on paper. But will it actually work for me?”

For some women, this could be the first time they’ve had to sit down and think long-term about their finances. In fact, FT Adviser (27 January 2025) states that just 30% of women said they played an active role in conversations with their adviser about joint finances, compared to 42% of men.

Understanding the full, real-life implications of a financial plan can take more than just looking at numbers on a piece of paper. This is where I can help, by working with your divorcing female clients to help them map out the real implications of the proposed financial offer.

Cashflow modelling can help turn numbers into relatable, real-life language

Even if the offer is legally fair, it can be difficult for your client to understand how this might translate into everyday life. I can help to turn the numbers into understandable money-language, helping your clients to decide whether the offer is acceptable.

I use a cashflow modelling process, Visualise Your Future, which can help your clients see a range of scenarios and options and better understand how their financial settlement would work in these conditions.

This approach can also help them to understand the longevity of the proposed settlement, as I can map how these assets and wealth could look over 10, 20, and 40 years, for example.

Working with the three main pillars of a divorce financial settlement – capital, income, and pension – I can use the sophisticated cashflow modelling software to transform numbers into real life.

Capital

This comprises your clients’ wealth, assets, and property that have been accumulated during the marriage.

Women often prioritise keeping the family home. However, while this can give your clients a sizeable asset which looks good on paper, they need to know if they can manage and maintain the property.

Cashflow modelling can help your client understand exactly what the costs of running the house, including bills, insurance, and repairs and maintenance, could look like over a number of years.

If necessary, you can use this scenario evidence to argue for a larger share of liquid assets in the settlement, to avoid your client being forced to downsize post-divorce against their wishes.

Income

Ensuring parity of income in the settlement may depend on whether your client has dependent children living with her, and the childcare arrangements she has in place with her former spouse.

Once you’ve established what income looks like in terms of children, earnings, and earning power, I can use cashflow modelling to show your client how the proposed maintenance could work over time.

For the “here and now”, an agreed income support offer can seem both suitable and reasonable. However (and especially if your client has young children), this needs to be able to stand the test of time.

I’ll apply an inflation-adjusted stress testing technique to the proposed figures, showing how inflation could deplete the spending power of income over time.

I can also model what is sometimes known as the “cliff edge”, or the day your client’s maintenance will stop.

This can show them how the proposed figures will work in real terms, and could support a request for index-linked maintenance payments (to match the rate of inflation).

It can also help to prepare your client for how her financial future could look post-maintenance, and I can work on a plan to ensure she has an appropriate investment strategy to replace this lost income where needed.

Pensions

These can be an often-overlooked part of a divorce settlement, with many women not knowing they are even an option for discussion. Even when they do realise, they are still more likely to forego rights to a pension in favour of a property.

According to Legal & General (7 February 2024), 30% of women are likely to waive their rights to a partner’s pension as part of their separation, even though the figures also show women have saved an average of £23,000 into their pension pot at the time of divorce, while men are likely to have saved £60,000.

If your client has chosen to offset her rights to a pension in favour of keeping the property, she could be getting reasonable parity on paper, where equity in the house balances well with funds in the pension pot.

I can apply sophisticated cashflow modelling techniques to show your client whether a tax-efficient income via a pension would be more valuable in the long term. Applying adjustments for inflation and any tax considerations, I can establish whether your client will have a sufficient cash flow to keep running the house and maintain their lifestyle.

Looking at whether she would need to draw on assets to replace any missed pension wealth, I can show her at what age she could potentially run out of accessible money in later life.

This could act as supporting evidence if your client feels they would like to ask for a Pension Sharing Order to be included in the financial order.

Get in touch

If you’d like to find out more about how I can help your clients understand the granular detail and practical application of their proposed settlement, I’d love to hear from you.

To find out more, please get in touch by email at lottie@truefinancialdesign.co.uk or call 03300 889138.

Please note

This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.

All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.

Please do not act based on anything you might read in this article. All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC legislation, which is subject to change.

The value of investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise and you may not get back the original amount invested.

A pension is a long-term investment the fund value may fluctuate and can go down. Your eventual income may depend upon the size of the fund at retirement, future interest rates and tax legislation.

HM Revenue and Customs practice and the law relating to taxation are complex and subject to individual circumstances and changes which cannot be foreseen.

Taxation and cashflow modelling is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Approved by 2Plan wealth management on: 15/06/2026