IDFA Online Learning
October 2026 Recorded Webinar: Beyond Child Support - Planning for the True Cost of Raising Kids Through Divorce
Recorded On: 10/01/2026
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Child support guidelines are built to cover a baseline standard of living — housing, food, and basic clothing — but leave out the extracurricular, technology, and milestone costs that shape a child’s actual day-to-day life. This program equips financial planners and divorce professionals to identify what guideline support does and does not cover, and to build that gap directly into the settlement process. Participants will learn to construct a life-stage expense framework covering both current and anticipated future costs (from youth activities through prom, driver’s education, and college applications); evaluate the tax and financial-aid tradeoffs among 529 plans, UTMA/UGMA custodial accounts, and joint parent-controlled savings vehicles; and recommend practical, enforceable mechanisms — including joint accounts, joint credit cards, and expense-tracking platforms such as OurFamilyWizard — for managing shared child-related expenses post-decree. The program also addresses the family dynamics of a post-divorce lifestyle gap, including how to help clients navigate financial conversations with children and align co-parenting messaging. Delivered as a lecture-style presentation with case-based illustration, this program is designed for CFP® professionals, CDFA® professionals, and other divorce financial specialists who advise clients on the financial aspects of raising children through and after divorce.
Jacqueline Roessler
CDFA®
Founder, Roessler Divorce Consulting, LLC
Jacki Roessler is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® and certified mediator with over 30 years of experience helping individuals navigate the financial complexities of divorce. As founder of Roessler Divorce Consulting, LLC, based in the Detroit Metro area, she serves as a financial expert across mediation, collaborative divorce, and litigation support, with a practice focused on high-net-worth clients throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw Counties.
Jacki co-founded Divorce Solutions, LLC, a Michigan-based QDRO drafting firm, and has held the CDFA® designation since 1996. She currently serves as Director of Education for the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts (IDFA). She has lectured extensively for the State Bar of Michigan, Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) and Financial Planning Associations around the country on divorce-related financial topics.
Jacki is also the host of Divorce Rich, a podcast dedicated to helping people navigate the financial realities of divorce with clarity and confidence. Her work spans complex asset division, retirement plan analysis, spousal support modeling, and financial education for both attorneys and clients going through divorce.
Jacki's financial expertise has been featured in a Wall Street Journal roundtable and her insights have been cited in Money Magazine and Kiplinger's Personal Finance.




