Scott Levin and Glenn Crawford discuss why divorce requires a team beyond lawyers. A CDFA, real-estate experts, therapists, and life coaches working together improve legal, financial, and emotional outcomes. Most people lack financial literacy, so a coordinated team educates them and prepares them for life 3-5 years after divorce.
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Hey everyone, this is Scott Levin. I'm a family law attorney, also known as Chief Peacekeeper because I only practice in mediation exclusively for family law matters, including divorce. And I'm joined today by a very good friend of mine, Glenn Crawford. How are you, Glenn?
Oh, I'm fantastic. How you doing, Scott? Thanks for having me.
Of course, of course. Love seeing you. Glenn is a wealth management advisor, and really, uh, the way that he approaches everything is, uh, is as a coach. Um, Glenn, do you mind introducing yourself for, for a moment?
No, thank you very much. So as you said, I'm Glenn Crawford. I'm a wealth management advisor here in Southern California. I'm also a CDFA, which is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. But at my core, what I see myself as, Scott, is I'm a coach for your overall financial well-being. Bottom line, I played Division 1 college football at a high level on an undefeated team, as a matter of fact, back in the '70s at Arizona State University. I have many years of coaching, worked with the youth sports all year round for like, you know, 10 years, and I've come to realize that, you know, my best self is my true self when I'm working with people when it comes to the financial aspects of their life, or if they're going through a life-changing event like divorce, helping them understand the unique financial aspects of divorce. But I'm able to talk to people in a way that they understand the impact of those decisions without using a bunch of financial jargon. Moreover, this coach-like approach that I have taken allows me to really have a true sense of integrity in the work that I do because I won't take on a Client unless I know I can make a difference in their lives. I can help them overcome an obstacle or get over a roadblock, but in essence, I would say, number one, And as it relates to our subject today, divorce, you know, I've played the game. I understand the whole world of financial instruments. I've been through a divorce, so I've played the game. I'm highly skilled and here for the right reasons, that's to give people a better financial outcome, you know, bottom line. And, you know, that's the core of how I approach the business, and that is I'm here because I have experience. I'm skilled, and if people put their faith in me, I can promise that they'll, they'll have a winning situation.
And that's— and I, and I've definitely found that in our, in our time working together over the years. So, you know, one of the things I thought that would be cool to have Glenn and I talk about is really, you know, divorce for most people is almost like the anti-team sport. And the reason is that the majority of people hire an attorney And depend on that attorney for their entire outcome. So, you know, no matter how good your attorney is, I think, having been a family law attorney myself and now a mediator, that people are much— your outcome is improved. And I'm going to say this with 1,000% certainty. Your outcome is improved when you build a team. And a huge part of that team, at least, at least add this part to your team. If you're going to hire an attorney, you need a certified divorce financial analyst like Glenn to help give you an understanding of the— and your attorney an understanding of the financial aspects of your divorce, the ramifications, all that. What are your thoughts, Glenn?
I couldn't, I couldn't concur more emphatically. I, as I said, I went through the experience myself and all the professionals that I had, they were all disjointed. They were all in a silo. They didn't work together. And I'll give you a sports analogy. A sports analogy that would relate to this might be that, you know, when I was a kid, they didn't have all these skills coaches that they do for kids now. So everyone sends their kid to these special skills coaches. Let's take basketball, for instance. You can send them to a shooting coach, you can send them to a dribbling coach. You can send them to a coach to teach them that, that is for conditioning, but it's not the same. That's preparing for the game. So if you only have, say for instance, your lawyer— and I'm not disparaging lawyers in any way, they do great work, they know the law, and, and I really appreciate the work that you do— but they're not financial advisors, and they don't understand the unique financial aspects or impact. They don't understand the value, the impact, or the taxes, and You know, the ramifications of those financial decisions. That's not where they're schooled. And so in working with someone like a CDFA that brings clarity to that, both for their clients and for themselves, it puts them in a position that they're way out in front when it comes to representing their interests. As you mentioned, the divorce process can be the anti-team game, or it can be somewhat combative. The more prepared you are, whether you're able to be collaborative with your ex or soon-to-be ex, or if not, when you have a team around you, I would liken it to this. So for instance, the work you do as a mediator and a lawyer, Scott, I would, I would call you the head coach. But you might be a head coach that, that, you know, came up playing defense and knows defense. You may, you know, you may not know I was a wide receiver. You may not know the nuances of being a wide receiver, how you get off the line, how you score up on that DB. The nuances of getting out of your break and finding the ball and, and, and the particular techniques and learning how to catch a ball. You know, when do you put your hands one way as opposed to another way? So if you're working with a skills coach, you're preparing for the game, preparing for the team. You're not actually, you know, in the game. When you're working in a collaborative environment like, like we do, where the lawyers working with the investment advisor or financial advisor With the realtor, with the mortgage lender, with a life coach, and the work that we do in the collaborative group that we work with. We're looking to help people find a better financial, legal, and emotional outcome on all fronts. And so I would liken it to that. It's, it's working with solely a lawyer would be like working with a skills coach, and working in an environment like the one that we've created is actually working with a team and being in the game and ready for the game.
Yeah, it's really interesting. So in mediation, I mean, the team— with the team analogy, you know, I oftentimes work with both parties during a divorce and we kind of form a team. But no matter whether that's the case or they're going through litigation, the point that I think Glenn and I are trying to really make is that educating yourself through engaging this whole team environment only makes you more knowledgeable. Makes you more informed, makes you better able to control your own outcomes. You know, when I went to law school, I was 24. I think I actually was like 1 or 2— I think, you know, most of the people were like 22, 23. So I took a couple years off in between my undergraduate and law school. I think the vast majority of people go straight through. So what does a 24-year-old You know, law student know about finances? I assure you, probably not very much. And so when they get that law degree, that doesn't mean that we necessarily as attorneys really can comprehend, you know, all the financial strategies that you can employ during your divorce and post-divorce that someone like Glenn can. facilitate. So again, and like Glenn said, life coach, therapy, mortgage, mortgage specialists, and real estate specialists that know divorce. These are all elements of your team that I suggest you engage during the process to get your outcome into a better position post-divorce. Because you need to look at— not like Glenn says this often— not Day one of— not day one right now of your divorce and not day one from when your divorce is over, but what is it going to look like 3, 4, 5 years later?
Absolutely.
So, Glenn, I mean, can you— how do people get in touch with you? I mean, what are the ways that they can reach out?
I'm easy to get a hold of. I'm Glenn Crawford. My phone number is 818-486-5053. You can also reach out to me at gcrawford@srcmadvisors.com.
And that undefeated team, that's pretty, that's pretty special, huh? What year was that for Arizona State?
Okay, I date myself. Well, today is Afro Day, Scott, and I used to have a big afro then. That was 1975. I was a member of the 12-0 undefeated co-national champion Arizona State Sun Devil football team coached by the legendary and Hall of Fame coach Frank Kush.
Wow, that's awesome. What an accomplishment. Yeah, well, listen, we want to wrap up for now, but Glenn and I are gonna be back with other videos in the future. He's an exceptional talent at what he does. I really cannot recommend him more emphatically. So Scott Levin, Chief Peacekeeper, and we'll be back soon. Thanks a lot, everyone.
