Advisers playing divorce detectives

The difficult task of dividing assets in a divorce is usually left to attorneys, but financial advisers can play an important role to ensure that clients get their fair share.

Increasingly divorce lawyers are looking to advisers to analyze financial information and uncover assets a spouse may try to conceal.

"We don't have the power to demand something from the other party," said Lili Vasileff, president of the Association of Divorce Financial Planners and a Greenwich, Connecticut-based adviser. "But we can tell the lawyer what to ask for and give them the ammunition for their depositions."

In a typical divorce, both parties must list all of their assets in a net worth statement. Advisers can match this information against other records.

"It's like playing detective," said Vasileff. "You get to know the short cuts and where to look" for discrepancies.

via Advisers playing divorce detectives | Reuters.