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If you are a Legal Document Assistant, mediator, or financial planner who provides divorce services in California, you probably know that the settlement agreement is the heart of your client’s case. With a signed agreement, your clients are 90% done with their divorce—all that’s left is some paperwork to get a judgment.

Often, a lot of money can be gained or lost depending on how things are handled in the settlement agreement, especially if significant assets, debts, or support are involved. Careful planning, problem solving and drafting can save your clients thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.

Here are some of the many benefits your clients will gain with a well-drafted settlement agreement:

• With an agreement, they probably won’t have to go to court. Without one, they almost certainly will.
• Essentially, the settlement agreement becomes their Judgment, and they will be ordered to comply with its terms. This allows your clients to decide everything ahead of time and have total control of the Judgment, instead of letting the judge decide everything.
• With a settlement agreement your clients can get far more depth, detail, flexibility, and protection.
• If their community property is worth more than $5,000, a settlement agreement is the only way your clients can arrange for unequal division, if this is what they agree is fair.
• Once signed, their divorce is mostly finished except for some red tape and paperwork.
• Perhaps most important, divorces that are settled by good agreements usually work out better afterward—spouses are more likely to comply with terms, have better post-divorce relationships, better co-parenting, and faster healing.

If you’re not already providing this valuable service to your clients, I encourage you to consider how drafting settlement agreements can increase your income and expand the range of services you offer. You can use professional software to draft settlement agreements without risking unauthorized practice of law.

© 2007 by Ed Sherman

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