Follow the Money: What a Forensic Accountant Wants Every Divorcing Woman to Know
There's a moment that so many women describe in the early stages of separation – the moment they realise they have no idea what their finances actually look like. Maybe their ex handled the money. Maybe the accounts are in their ex's name. Maybe they've been told things are a certain way, and now they're not so sure.
If that's you, this article is for you.
I recently sat down with Julie Garis, a chartered forensic accountant who now specialises in helping women navigate the financial side of separation and property settlement with her business Simple Split Financials. Julie has been through divorce herself – and like so many of the women I speak to, that lived experience is exactly what drives her work.
What she shared was practical, grounding, and reassuring. Here's what she wants you to know.
What Does a Forensic Accountant Actually Do?
The short answer: they follow the money.
Julie describes her role as sitting right alongside a family lawyer – but in a completely different lane. Where a lawyer gives legal advice and navigates the court system, a forensic accountant analyses financial data, builds balance sheets, identifies inconsistencies, and presents complex financial information in a way that makes sense – to the client, to the lawyer, and if necessary, to a court.
She's not giving financial planning advice (that's a financial adviser's job) and she's not a lawyer. She's the person who looks at your bank statements, your tax returns, your business documents, and your asset list and says: here's what's actually going on here.
"I stick in my lane. I'm a financial person, I know my boundaries, and I'm there to support the client and the lawyer anywhere along that journey."
That clarity of role matters. Because when you're going through property settlement, you want specialists – not people doing three jobs at once.
When Should You Bring in a Forensic Accountant?
Julie works with women at every stage of separation – from women who haven't even had the conversation with their partner yet, to women who are preparing for a final trial.
But here's what she says clearly: the earlier, the better.
Knowledge is power. And getting organised early – pulling together financial documents, understanding what assets and liabilities exist, building a timeline of the relationship – means you arrive at your lawyer's office prepared. That saves time. And given that family lawyers often bill in six-minute units, arriving prepared can save you significant money.
Julie considers a range of factors when she first meets a client:
Have they separated yet, or are they still in the relationship?
Do they have a lawyer?
What's their level of financial literacy and understanding of the relationship's finances?
How large and complex is the asset pool?
How are they coping emotionally, and how much capacity do they have to engage with this process?
There's no one-size-fits-all approach. Some clients want a spreadsheet to fill in themselves. Others need intensive hand-holding through every step. Julie meets each woman where she is.
The Hidden Financial Issues to Watch For
This is where it gets important – and where a forensic accountant earns their place.
Julie has seen it all: gambling and financial wastage, crypto assets disclosed as a casual screenshot with no supporting documentation, personal expenses funnelled through family companies, bank accounts transferred to unknown parties, and records that appear to be deliberately disorganised or incomplete.
She also flags something that women commonly experience: a partner who seems cooperative at the start, but becomes evasive or difficult when formal disclosure is requested. That shift – especially if it happens when the letter from your lawyer arrives requesting financial documents – is worth paying attention to.
"You can quickly see if they're going to engage or not. If they're not engaging, that's a red flag."
One of the most common issues Julie sees is self-employed partners whose disclosed income doesn't reflect their actual lifestyle or spending. Business structures can be used – intentionally or not – to obscure the true value of the asset pool. Julie describes part of her job as 'financial detective work': looking past what's been presented to understand what's actually there.
What Happens When Finances Aren't Fully Disclosed?
When your ex is required to disclose financial documents and you're not sure if what you've received is complete, Julie looks for the gaps.
She examines what's been provided, identifies what's missing, and feeds back to the lawyer with a list of additional documents to request. She looks for transfers to undisclosed accounts, unexplained expenses, and the intermingling of business and personal finances that can distort valuations.
She's also practical about it. There's a cost-benefit decision to be made: how much will it cost to investigate further, and what's the likely financial gain? In some cases, pursuing every thread makes sense. In others, the legal fees to uncover an extra 1 or 2 per cent of the asset pool may not be worth it – and Julie will say so.
That kind of straight-talking honesty is exactly what women need when they're making decisions under significant emotional pressure.
Julie Garis founded Simple Split Financials after going through her own divorce.
On Fairness – and Why 'Can I Live With It?' Is the Better Question
One of the most useful things Julie said in our conversation was this: fair doesn't really exist in property settlement.
The family court aims for a 'just and equitable' outcome – but what that means in practice depends on a huge range of factors: contributions (financial and non-financial), future needs, care of children, earning capacity, and more.
In Julie's words, she's never had a client walk away saying, 'That was so fair.' Both parties typically feel they've given more than they've received.
So rather than holding on to 'fair' as the measure, Julie encourages clients to think in terms of options: What do I ideally want? What's my Plan B? What's the least I can live with? And how much time, money, and emotional energy am I prepared to spend trying to improve the outcome?
My friend, a lawyer, puts it well: the question isn't 'is this fair?' It's 'can I live with this?' And sometimes the most empowering choice is to take what you can, close the chapter, and direct your energy into building your future.
"Once you're through the process, you can focus on you and your kids and just building that new life. And it's amazing."
The Financial Fresh Start That Comes After
One of the most consistent themes I hear from women on the other side of divorce – and I’m no exception – is the surprise of discovering their own financial competence.
Many women arrive at separation having been told, directly or indirectly, that they're not good with money. That the financial chaos in the relationship was somehow their fault. That they couldn't manage on their own.
And then they start managing their own finances for the first time – and they discover that they can.
Julie sees this regularly: clients who, during the settlement process, start learning about budgeting and money management for what is genuinely the first time, and who light up at the experience of being in control.
Recommendation: Go back and listen to episode 2 of Divorce With Carolyn to listen to Naomi Holmes as a wonderful resource for women who want to build their financial literacy after settlement.
Where to Start When You're Overwhelmed
Julie has a free checklist on her website – First Steps: Financial Settlement Preparation – that covers:
Looking after your safety and privacy first
Gathering financial documents (anything you can access or screenshot)
Writing down your questions and concerns before you speak to anyone
Identifying the key people to reach out to for support
Her advice is simple: don't try to do everything at once. Download the checklist. Don't even read it immediately if it's too much. Just take one step.
And find people you trust – a friend without an agenda, a professional who genuinely aligns with you – and lean on them without judgement.
A Note on Menopause
Julie raised something that I think deserves its own mention: for women 45 and over (which is most of her clients, and a significant proportion of Women’s Divorce Academy members), perimenopause and menopause can dramatically amplify the cognitive and emotional experience of going through separation.
Brain fog, overwhelm, emotional dysregulation – these are real physiological experiences, not signs of weakness or inability to cope. If you suspect this is a factor, speaking with a GP is a worthwhile step. Lifting that layer of the experience can make everything else slightly more manageable.
I spoke to Julie on an episode of my podcast Divorce With Carolyn. You can listen to the full episode on your favourite platform by following this link.
