CounselPro for divorce mediation
One financial record, both sides
A session stalls the moment two people stop believing each other’s numbers. CounselPro reads the statements once: income computed from the deposits, spending by category, and a page reference under every figure. Both sides work from the same record.
$7,400
Sworn in March
$10,270
61 deposits · 4 accounts · 24 months
$14,000
Worked up from the joint account
Income is computed from what landed in the accounts. Money moving between the Marchettis’ own accounts is marked internal, so a dollar counts once, and every deposit opens the statement page it was read from.
What the statements already say
Most of what a session argues about for the first two hours is already printed in the records both sides have. One read turns it into figures, and each figure keeps the page it was read from, so either party can open it at the table.
What each side actually earns
Income is computed from the deposits across every account in the production. Money moving between a person’s own accounts is marked internal, so the same dollar counts once, and the figure comes back monthly with the deposits behind it.
Where the household’s money goes
Every charge is grouped by category and by merchant, month by month, across the bank accounts and the cards. Put one year beside another and the standard-of-living conversation takes ten minutes.
Which months are in the file
Coverage names every account-month behind the read and every month with no statement under it, so both sides know how complete the picture is before they sign anything.
One household becomes two
The statements already say what this household spends and what it takes in. The question the session is actually for is what each side carries afterwards, so ask it: the arithmetic runs in a calculator and prints the deposits and charges it used beside the answer.
- Housing4,180Dana 4,180Owen 2,450
- Childcare and school1,960Dana 1,960Owen —
- Groceries and household1,640Dana 1,050Owen 590
- Cars and transport1,205Dana 620Owen 585
- Health and insurance640Dana 420Owen 220
- Utilities and phone495Dana 330Owen 275
- Everything else1,890Dana 780Owen 950
- Money out12,010Dana 9,340Owen 5,070
- Money in, from deposits13,920Dana 3,650Owen 10,270
- The month before support+1,910Dana −5,690Owen +5,200
- The month with support at $4,900—Dana −790Owen +300
Two households cost $2,400 a month more than one. That is the number the room has to place, and it is on the record before anyone opens with a position.
Two experts, or one read
Each side retains its own
- Two engagements start, and the two reports rarely land on the same income figure.
- Both retainers come out of the estate the parties are about to divide.
- Weeks pass before either report arrives, and the session is rescheduled around them.
- The mediator ends up holding two documents and a judgment call about which one to believe.
One read the room shares
- One production, read once, with every figure coming off the statements rather than off either side.
- One cost, split the way the parties split everything else on the table.
- The read runs in the background and comes back in minutes, so it lands before the session rather than between two of them.
- Every figure opens the statement page it was read from, so either party can check it while everyone is looking.
A record neither side owns
The party who thinks something is missing and the party who thinks they have shown everything are asking the same question from opposite chairs. One read answers both, because every figure comes off the page and keeps it.
For the side asking where the money went
- Every deposit and every charge across all four accounts, grouped, searchable and open to the page it came off.
- Recipients named: transfers by account number, Bill Pay creditors, loan servicers, payment apps, and the people written on the checks.
- An account directory that resolves whose account is whose across the whole production, including the ones named only by a transfer.
- Coverage, so a month nobody produced is on the record as a gap rather than as an argument.
For the side who has already disclosed it all
- Income computed from the deposits, so the figure comes off the statements rather than off an estimate the other side worked up.
- Transfers between your own accounts marked internal, so money you moved is counted once and read as what it was.
- A figure the records cannot support is left open and flagged for you, with the page beside it.
- Findings stated as what the record shows, each one cited to its page, with no view offered about intent.
One shared record for the mediation
A figure in the sheet opens the statement page it came off, at the line it was read from, while both sides are looking at it. Ask what a household spent on a category over a period and the answer prints the charges it added up beside it. Threads are shared across the firm, so the mediator, the paralegal who loaded the production and counsel are all in the same one.
What mediators ask first
- Can both parties see the same financial record?
- Yes. One read produces one record, and the mediator can put it on the screen in the session or export it for each side to take away as Excel, CSV or PDF. Every figure carries the statement page it came from, so a party who wants to check a number can open the page it sits on.
- How does CounselPro work out someone’s income from bank statements?
- It computes income from the deposits across every account in the production. Money moving between a person’s own accounts is marked internal, and refunds and loan proceeds are read as what they are, so the figure is earnings. It verifies income from the accounts, so it is a read of the deposits rather than of a pay stub or a tax return.
- Can it show what a household spends each month?
- Yes. Spending comes back grouped by category and by merchant, month by month, across every bank account and card in the production, and a card statement also names the authorized users on the account. Put one period beside another and the change in spending is a figure rather than a claim.
- Can we model what each household looks like after the split?
- Ask it. Daystrom takes a question in plain English, works the arithmetic in a calculator and prints the deposits and charges it used beside the answer, so you can see what a household spends, what it takes in, and what a support number does to both. The inputs are the record, so the scenario stands on the same statements everything else on the page does.
- What if one side has not produced every statement?
- Coverage shows every account-month you hold and every month with no statement behind it, so the gaps are named before the session rather than found in it. It also catches the same statement cycle uploaded twice, which is what a messy disclosure usually arrives with.
- Is the read neutral if one party pays for it?
- The figures come off the statements, and every one of them keeps the page it was read from, so either side can open that page and see the same thing. A figure the records cannot support is left open and flagged for you. Findings are stated as what the record shows and cited to a page, with no view offered about intent.
Send one mediation’s statements
The disclosure that arrived as one long PDF is the thing worth testing this on. One matter, one read, and both sides looking at the same sheet.
Bank, credit card, check and investment statements