Introduction to Nancy Kearson
When I started with an accounting firm in 1988 as a financial specialist, I was quickly spotted by one of the firm’s marital forensic accounting partners who was looking for some help with his clients. It wasn’t long before this partner saw great potential in me.
Most of the work came from divorce litigation attorneys with complex divorce matters which included things like asset tracing based on accounting, tax and family laws in California. The firm was transitioning to more computer work at that time, and I excelled in that area.
Often I would witness a fair amount of emotional damage to families dealing with court-litigated divorces which are often very adversarial and not family-friendly.
Not only did I commonly see the emotional toll these types of divorces caused, but I also saw how financially draining they were. The adversarial tone was found throughout the entire divorce process when courts were involved.
The system itself – the courts, the attorneys, the experts – were very adversarial. Parties would get so upset and become focused on the fight that they were burning through all their assets. Some families have used their children’s 529 educational accounts they had set aside for their college education to pay their costly attorney fees.
Everyone seems to have someone in their family who has gone through a litigated divorce. They’ve seen how destructive they are to both families and friends, especially when they needed to make a “choice” or alienate kids, which made co-parenting impossible. And who gets hurt the most? The kids.
So even though my lens was from the accounting aspect of court divorce, I could see how important it was to go back to the basics. And the collaborative divorce process did just that by putting the clients’ and their family’s needs first.
Family law was created to protect children, but I didn’t see that in court divorces.
When I went to work in the collaborative divorce environment with financial mediation, it was not as devastating to the children, in-laws, family members and friends. It was focused on keeping the family unit intact and using a non-adversarial divorce approach.
Over the years, I have gravitated toward attorneys and groups who are focused on helping clients by using a more positive, family-friendly way to divorce. Groups like LACFLA with a different focus, a more collaborative divorce setting that created a more peaceful and respectful environment that was far less adversarial than court litigated divorces, which are extremely toxic and devastating to families.
By working with the collaborative divorce process, I can assist clients in making this transition into a better way of life for a whole group of people, starting with the couple and their children and going out from there.
I have developed some products that can only be used in mediation and collaboration. They require less preparation than if testifying in court divorce cases and, therefore, are a huge time and money saver.
I have found that more and more courts have moved toward the collaborative divorce process because not only is it too costly to try cases in court, the court systems see the damage court divorces are causing families. They feel they are mitigating that damage while saving the courts time, allowing them to focus on the more difficult things that come through family law court. In Southern California where I primarily work, courts are becoming more supportive and encourage parties to move towards mediation and collaboration versus litigation.
I feel happy to be of service to help people and being able to minimize the trauma of a divorce to the entire family by utilizing mediation or collaborative divorce.
Nancy Kearson
1801 Century Park E
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(310) 785-9614