Robin Vaccai Yess, a Kingston-based certified divorce financial analyst, applauds New York state”™s belated decision to join its 49 sister states in adopting no-fault divorce.
“People were living in unhappy marriages that became too grueling and costly to undo,” reflects the founder of Hudson Valley Divorce L.L.C. (hvdivorce.com). Most of her clientele includes couples married an average of 20 years, although the longest was a 42-year marriage. She counsels couples together or will represent one party in an effort to save her clients needless financial and emotional pain.
“I keep a box of tissues on my desk,” she said, referring to the need to help female clients face the reality that they cannot maintain the homes that they love.
“I”™m not here to destroy your dreams,” she assures them. “But, you have a life to live, and if you cling to the house, there are other things that you cannot do.”
“In a litigated divorce no one wins,” Yess said. “Major considerations are children and finances. These are matters serious people can work out. Litigation makes a difficult situation worse.”
Although most clients were originally women, Yess said she is now seeing couples together. Conditions of representing a pair is that she will see neither alone and they must sign an agreement that she will not be called into court to testify against either one.
Much blame for the increased divorce rate, the Kingston analyst believes, is traceable to the women”™s movement. “Women”™s expectations have changed. Now they are expected to be mom, wife, career woman. Women are overwhelmed.”
By contrast, Yess also deals with older women whose husbands have managed family finances. She works in partnership with such a client”™s attorney, providing direction of how to proceed to even the odds in court.
There is folly in dividing finances evenly, she points out. With some, loss of a spouse”™s health benefits might weigh in. Future pensions are another consideration.
“Complex things weigh in moneywise,” she observes. “We want to ensure that one partner isn”™t $20,000 ahead, while the other is in the hole by $10,000.”
Yess discourages the revenge of an angry client dealing with a cheating spouse.  “You”™ve got $500 worth of patio furniture, and you”™re going to spend $2,000 arguing.”
Yess works with lawyers and mediators who send her clients to run through the figures. She recalls the male client who tallied up $15,000 in legal fees over 18 months, regretting that he hadn”™t spent $800 for her to first go over the figures.
Yess was not drawn to her profession by an unfortunate experience. She has
been married to Louis Yess, a construction contractor, for 18 years and has two
daughters, Cassidy and Elena, attending her alma mater, New Paltz High School.
Raised in Poughkeepsie and Wappingers Falls, Yess moved with her family to Ulster County as a teenager. Studies at Ulster Community College and SUNY Empire State College followed high school graduation. It was through the College for Financial Planning in Denver that she became a certified financial planner. The certification”™s requirement for continuing education led her into courses that opened the door to becoming a certified divorce financial analyst. She also underwent collaborative law training and is a member of the Ulster County Collaborative Divorce Professionals.
An article which she wrote for a financial column included a couple of paragraphs about divorce financial planning and resulted in phone calls and emails that led to her current career.
Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be e-mailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net
