Financial analysis for your divorce

We empower clients to make thoughtful and informed financial decisions during divorce.

Let us demystify what settlement will mean for your finances. Understand the financial consequences of settlement before committing to an agreement.

Collaborative Professional of Washington, Winner, 2023 Spotlight Award

Do you need financial guidance in your divorce? Here is what our new clients are saying:

I make a lot more than my spouse. It’s important to me that we both have a good standard of living after the divorce. We need help figuring out how to make that happen.

My husband ran the finances during our marriage. I don’t know what any of the financial stuff means or what I should be asking for.

A lot of my friends are divorced and most of them regret their settlements. I don't want to end up like them.

I’m approaching retirement age. I need to make sure that I will be able to retire.

I get paid a salary as well as RSUs and stock options. How do you treat RSUs and stock options in divorce when the value is uncertain?

I don’t have a good sense of the overall financial picture. I don’t want to be stuck living with bad decisions because I didn’t take the time to really understand the financial part.

I’m a stay-at-home parent and my spouse is the breadwinner. I need to make sure that I’ll be okay financially after divorce.

Is it smart to keep the house? I don’t want to uproot the kids, but I also don’t want to end up with a house that I can’t afford. Can I afford to buy out my spouse and then make the mortgage payments?

It’s really expensive to live in our area. We need help figuring out if we can still afford to stay in the area after we split up.

Do you or your spouse work in the tech or engineering sector? Our clientele includes employees at:

  • Adobe

  • Amazon

  • Apple

  • AT&T

  • Aurora

  • Blue Origin

  • Boeing

  • Docusign

  • eBay

  • Expedia

  • Google

  • Indeed

  • Meta

  • Microsoft

  • NVIDIA

  • Oracle

  • Slalom

  • Synopsys

  • T-Mobile

The following factors can make it difficult to make decisions in divorce:

  • One spouse earns unpredictable and/or contingent income (e.g., self-employment income, bonus income, and/or commissions).

  • One spouse earns equity compensation (e.g., RSUs or stock options).

  • One spouse works part-time or is not in the workforce.

  • The spouses would like to co-own real estate after the divorce.

About our caseload in 2024:

  • 56% had a spouse who earned unpredictable and/or contingent income.

  • 37% had a spouse who earned equity compensation.

  • 35% had a spouse who worked part-time or was not in the workforce.

  • 14% agreed to co-own real estate after the divorce.

In 2024, 51% of our cases had two of these factors. 63% had three or more.

Services for Couples

Collaborative Divorce

Collaborative Divorce

Work with a team to guide your divorce.

Financial Mediation

Financial Mediation

Work with a neutral professional to make financial decisions in your divorce.

Services for Individuals

Add a CDFA® to Your Team

Add a CDFA® to Your Team

Add a financial professional to your divorce team.

Retirement Analysis

Retirement Analysis

Understand how settlement may impact your retirement.

Services for Couples

Collaborative Divorce

Work with a team to guide your divorce.

Financial Mediation

Work with a neutral professional to make financial decisions in your divorce.

Services for Individuals

Add a CDFA® to Your Team

Add a financial professional to your divorce team.

Retirement Analysis

Understand how settlement may impact your retirement.

Meet our Principal

  • Jesse Deason, CFP®, CDFA®, EA

    Jesse Deason, CFP®, CDFA®, EA

    About

Client Testimonials

  • "Thank you for helping us get through the process so quickly and so professionally."

  • "I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your help. Not only did we reach a workable compromise, but you managed to guide us to a solution we are both happy with. [...] We could not have gotten to this point without you, and I am very, very grateful for that. Thank you!"

  • "Thank you Jesse...and thank you for all your time, patience, and guidance. It was a pleasure working with you, too."

  • "Thank you for all your hard work, Jesse! It was a pleasure working with you despite the circumstances! Your professional product helped me see things more clearly at a higher level."

  • "Thank you for all your support navigating this rollercoaster. I really appreciated your approach through this. You created a safe container while also remaining honest, direct and impartial."

  • "Thank you very much, Jesse! You made the process much more approachable than it initially seemed."

  • "You were absolutely wonderful to work with. I very much appreciated your process and the information presented to help us make informed decisions. Thank you for your service through all of this."

  • "I just want to let you know that I appreciate the kindness, the patience, the perseverance and the support that you have shown to me. This team of strong women, who stood by me in my time of great need, has helped to teach me that strong women can make a huge difference in this world. Even if, in this case, it was just to shore up a very broken me."

  • "Thanks for your help with the financial aspects of the separation. I appreciated your knowledge and professionalism."

  • "I wanted to express my deep gratitude and appreciation for all of your patience, professionalism, expertise and kindness through this divorce process. I’m very very grateful – you all rock!"

  • "Thank you for working with us! It has been a pleasure and I certainly appreciated all your expertise and knowledge."

  • "Thank you again and again for all your tremendous help with this process. I could not have understood even a little bit of all of this without your wonderful demeanor and method of explaining things efficiently and effectively."

  • "You're literally the only person who can help in this situation. I've tried for years [...] but I needed to avoid the conflict for family peace. I was never aware of what a financial neutral was, and I'm grateful for this niche."

  • "I would like to thank you for your help. I know now how to manage my money and budget my expenses."

  • "I hadn’t heard whether the client hired you or not, but she says you are a life saver! Thanks so much for assisting with this."

  • "Thank you so much for all your work with us. You were amazing! So skilled with all the skills, hard and soft."

  • "Thank you so much for all of your help Jesse!"

  • "It was great working with you! I really appreciate all of your help."

Client Reviews

Diana D.

Jesse made a difficult process much easier with her professionalism and organizational approach to the process. After looking at her website, with its clear detailed accounting of the process and how she approaches the task of mediating, it was clear that I wanted to work with her firm. I was not wrong and made the right choice. I'm so glad I found Jesse and Seattle Divorce Planning.

Michael S.

Jesse was absolutely wonderful to work with. I very much appreciated the prescriptive process and the information presented to help us make informed decisions. During a time when emotions are elevated and everything seems challenging, Jesse helped remove the emotional aspect by just dealing with data and the financial calculations that we needed.

Emily H.

Jesse was absolutely delightful to work with. She was very knowledgeable and responsive. Each time we needed additional help, she either knew the answer or knew who to direct us to. She also was able to stay unbiased in our collaborative process and help identify when something was relevant to our process.

Anna G.

Jesse is incredibly organized and detailed. She worked with us to ensure we captured all financial assets and liabilities, and created a spreadsheet to allow us to easily divide everything. I highly recommend Jesse!

Molli B.

Jesse is wonderful to work with. She is caring, professional and a clear communicator. I appreciate Jesse's straight forward and pragmatic approach. I also found Jesse to be sensitive to our needs and very patient. I would highly recommend Jesse.

Jane C.

Jesse is great - efficient, professional, helpful, sympathetic and patient. I highly recommend her.

A. Barker

I have seen Jesse Deason several times over the past few months while I'm going through a very hard transition. I understand why it is called "Serene" Divorce Planning...that is the energy felt immediately when speaking to Jesse. She is calm and peaceful. That is important when you are filled with a lot of emotion and uncertainty about the future. She is organized, prepared, listens and explains everything very well. She's very knowledgeable in many different aspects of divorce, law, and finances in general and with specifics in my case. And, she has helpful advice for going forward. I feel relieved in what I have learned from her and even more confident going forward. I now have the tools I need for the future and maybe even a little excitement about it! Thanks so much, Jesse!

Blog Posts

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7 FAQs about the Washington Divorce Virtual Workshop
7 FAQs about the Washington Divorce Virtual Workshop

The Washington Divorce Workshop is a monthly educational workshop about divorce. The workshop features a family law attorney, financial professional, mortgage specialist, and mental health/wellness practitioner providing professional, reliable information about divorce in Washington state. Here are seven frequently asked questions we get about the workshop.

Four key ingredients for using your divorce to launch into paid work
Four key ingredients for using your divorce to launch into paid work

Most of our stay-at-home parent clients tell us they are terrified about what financial life will look like as a single person. They are pleasantly surprised to learn that they can use their divorce as a launchpad into a new season of paid work.

Don’t overlook the credit report in your divorce
Don’t overlook the credit report in your divorce

Don’t make any decisions in your divorce without first reviewing your spouse’s credit report. If the credit report includes a lot of late or missed payments, consider whether your spouse can be relied upon to fulfill future financial responsibilities, like making monthly spousal maintenance payments or property buyout payments.

Choosing between the home and retirement
Choosing between the home and retirement

Divorcing individuals must often choose between homeownership and retirement readiness. The ongoing costs of homeownership may impact your ability to save for retirement each month. In addition, keeping the home in the divorce may mean giving up retirement assets.

Six FAQs about divorce and RSUs in Washington
Six FAQs about divorce and RSUs in Washington

Many executive-level employees in Washington state receive restricted stock units (RSUs). RSUs give an employee an interest in company stock. Learn how RSUs are dealt with in divorce and what key documents you can review to find out if your spouse has RSUs.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Building Your List of Assets
The Do’s and Don’ts of Building Your List of Assets

Every divorce includes making decisions about dividing up the assets. Before you start negotiating with your spouse about who will get what, take some time to build a comprehensive list of all the assets owned by either you or your spouse. Only when you feel confident that your list includes everything, and that you have an accurate value for each item, should you begin to think about who will keep what. As you begin to build your list, keep in mind these do’s and don’ts.

Two tax rules to know if you are divorcing and keeping the house
Two tax rules to know if you are divorcing and keeping the house

Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code allows some homeowners to reduce the tax owed on the sale of their home. Generally, the rules require that the homeowner has used and owned the home for a certain length of time. Sometimes, divorce results in a situation where the spouse keeping the home is seemingly unable to meet these requirements. Fortunately, there are two special rules for divorced homeowners.

Don’t Make this $10,000+ Tax Mistake in Your Divorce
Don’t Make this $10,000+ Tax Mistake in Your Divorce

Savvy taxpayers know they can use Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the tax owned when they sell their home. If you are divorcing, don’t keep the house without first estimating what your tax bill will be if you sell the house as a single person.

Considering a Collaborative divorce? Three questions to ask yourself.
Considering a Collaborative divorce? Three questions to ask yourself.

Collaborative divorce may be good option for couples hoping to maintain a positive relationship after the divorce, who have the financial resources to pay for multiple divorce professionals, and who are willing to negotiate the divorce in good faith.

Avoid these 6 mistakes in your post-divorce spending plan
Avoid these 6 mistakes in your post-divorce spending plan

Have no idea what it will cost to live as a single person? Try building a post-divorce monthly spending plan. As you estimate expenses, be sure to avoid these six common mistakes.

Dealing with credit card debt during divorce
Dealing with credit card debt during divorce

Beware assigning your ex-spouse the responsibility of paying off joint credit card debt. If they fail to make the payments, you will be on the hook with the credit card companies. Minimize exposure to your ex-spouse’s financial misdeeds by taking responsibility for paying off joint credit card debt or ensuring that all joint credit card debt gets repaid before your divorce is settled.

I’m divorcing: Can I afford to keep the home?
I’m divorcing: Can I afford to keep the home?

Thinking about keeping the home in your divorce? Make sure you can afford the mortgage along with your other monthly expenses. Don’t forget to include the costs of routine maintenance, large one-off expenses, and the expense of hiring someone to do the chores your ex-spouse used to do.

King County Collaboratie Law
Collaborative Professionals of Washington
Whatcome Collaborative Law Professionals
International Academy of Collaborative Professionals
CFP
Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts
IRS Enrolled Agent

Contact us today to schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation.