Fearless conversations with clients about divorce can change lives

Ask Samantha Garcia why she decided to specialize in divorce at Halbert Hargrove and she’ll laugh, saying it’s what she’s asked all the time, since she’s not divorced herself.

“It’s always funny, because I am happily married,” Garcia says. “This year, my husband and I will celebrate 13 years of marriage. So yeah, why get a certified divorce credential when I'm happily married?”

Garcia, who’s a senior wealth advisor at the Long Beach, California-based firm, and one of three advisors at the firm who’s a certified divorce financial analyst, noted that while she hasn’t had to go through a divorce, she has seen divorces occur among her friends and family.

“I've seen how difficult it is,” she said. “There's a lot of nuances around it and really getting the understanding. Seeing friends and family struggle through it and not know what resources are out there, or how to go about making decisions around it, really was that catalyst for me.”

Garcia also highlights that while the industry is seeing more advisors earning their CDFA designation, it’s important for advisors to ask for help if they don’t know something when advising a client on a divorce, because there are nuances, such as qualified domestic relations orders, that can cause damage to clients.

“Make sure the company accepts a QDRO, which is a separation of the 401(k) or pension, and make sure you understand what things are needed and to not wait too long to do that because the QDRO needs to be done as soon as that divorce is final,” she said.

“If you don't know the answer, seek out somebody who can help you,” Garcia added. “Seek out somebody who has the training or the experience and has been through it multiple times.”

What makes Halbert Hargrove unique, compared to other advisors who might be focusing on divorce and charge an hourly fee, she added, is that the firm only offers divorce services to its existing clients.

“When a client is going through a divorce, we have the knowledge of their whole financial situation already so we can really act as that financial backing for them, to make sure that they understand all the financial ramifications of divorce,” Garcia said. “Because we have the existing financial knowledge of their situation, we can really be more helpful.”

Garcia sees a mix of both women and men looking for divorce services, which she says makes for “an interesting dynamic,” especially as most are pre-retirees, reflecting the current trend of gray divorce.

“Thinking about the adage that women are more emotional or where men are more logical, sometimes I see it backwards,” she noted. “It’s actually the men who are more upset about the divorce process, and the women are like, ‘Let's just get it done.’ So that's kind of interesting.”

Clients seeking divorce services tend to lean toward financial planning services, Garcia says, especially when it comes to a divorce settlement.

“The different types of assets are taxed differently,” she says. “While a settlement on paper looks like it's equal or equitable, it may not be in five to 10 years, depending on the tax implications of assets.”

At Halbert Hargrove, there’s a phrase called “fearless conversations,” Garcia says. “It’s not because nobody's scared of them but because you have to have deep, meaningful, and sometimes unpleasant conversations with clients.” Those conversations can consist of dealing with which spouse gets the house or keeps assets, despite their not being able to afford it.

At the end of the day, Garcia says that her focus on divorce ultimately came from a spot of having compassion for others.

“I can help people better and that's really what I want to do, overall," she says. "I want to help people figure out what the future looks like and make sure they're going to be OK.”

Name: Samantha J. Garcia
Position: Senior wealth advisor
Company: Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors
Founded: 1933
Firm AUM: Roughly $3 billion