A guide for family law, mortgage and real estate professionals
Three designations. Three roles. Not a ladder.
Each designation names a different job on a divorce case. One professional can hold more than one, and none of them replaces another.
The Divorce Lending Association now grants three designations: the CDLP®, the REM-S™ and the Certified Divorce Housing Neutral™ (CDHN™). Three sets of letters can look like a ladder, where each one replaces the last. They are not a ladder. Each designation names a different role, and one professional can hold more than one.
Here is what each designation means, who can earn it, how the three fit together, and how to tell which one a case needs.
The three designations at a glance
CDLP®
Certified Divorce Lending Professional
Who can earn itMortgage loan originators with an active license.
The rolePlans the housing and financing side of a divorce for their client while the agreement is still a draft, and can handle the loan.
Works for: their client
CDHN™
Certified Divorce Housing Neutral™
Who can earn itCDLPs who complete the housing neutral training.
The roleServes both spouses at once, or a court, as a neutral on the housing question, and does no loan for either spouse in that matter.
Works for: both spouses, or the court
REM-S™
Real Estate Mediation Specialist
Who can earn itReal estate professionals and CDLPs.
The roleBrings 40 hours of mediation skills training to the home decision, so the professional can work inside a mediated or collaborative case without disrupting it.
Works on: the home decision in a mediated case
The CDLP®: the foundation
License requiredEvery CDLP® holds an active mortgage loan originator license.
Works for a clientUsually one spouse, sometimes both, jointly and in writing.
Can handle the loanWhen the time comes, with any interest disclosed.
A Certified Divorce Lending Professional is a licensed mortgage loan originator who has been trained and certified in divorce mortgage planning. The designation is not open to anyone without an active license, and that is deliberate. The questions a CDLP® answers carry real consequences for the case: whether the spouse keeping the home can actually buy out the other, whether the support terms will hold up as income, and what the agreement has to say for the housing plan to work once it is signed.
A CDLP® works for their client. Usually that is one spouse. Sometimes a couple engages one CDLP® jointly, with the CDLP®'s interest in any loan disclosed in writing. Either way, a CDLP® can also handle the loan when the time comes. A CDLP® does not give legal or tax advice and does not replace anyone's attorney.
Every CDLP® is held to the association's practice standards and code of ethics and can be checked in the national CDLP® directory.
The REM-S™: mediation skills for the home decision
40
Hours of training
Conflict and how to calm it. Communicating with two people who disagree. How mediated and collaborative processes work. Bringing property and mortgage knowledge into the room without derailing it. Then live practice through mock mediations and role plays.
The Real Estate Mediation Specialist certification is mediation skills training built around the marital home. The REM-S™ is open to real estate professionals as well as CDLPs. It is the one designation a real estate agent can hold with the association, and it puts agents and CDLPs in the same room, trained the same way.
A REM-S™ does not have to be the mediator to use those skills. The training prepares them to work inside a mediation as the professional on the home decision. The requirements to serve as a court-appointed or family court mediator vary by state.
REM-S™ professionals have their own directory, Find a REM-S™, and the full program is described on the REM-S™ certification page.
The CDHN™: a second role for a CDLP®
A Certified Divorce Housing Neutral™ is a CDLP® who has completed additional training and passed scored assessments to serve both spouses at once on the housing questions in a divorce. Both spouses engage a CDHN™ together, or a court appoints one. Either way, the client is the case, not either spouse.
In any matter where a CDHN™ serves as the neutral, they do no loan for either spouse, during or after the engagement.
The shared fee is their only pay. When a spouse needs a loan, the CDHN™ provides the names of at least two other CDLP® professionals in that market.
A CDHN™ is a housing neutral, not a financial neutral. The two roles sit side by side on a case.
The financial neutral owns
The estate, the support and the budget.
The housing neutral owns
One question: whether each housing option can actually be financed, qualified for and held by the spouse it is meant for.
Mediation skills training such as the REM-S™ is strongly recommended for a CDHN™, but it is not required. You can read more in Introducing the Certified Divorce Housing Neutral™ and on the Certified Divorce Housing Neutral™ page.
How the three fit together
CDHN™
A second role, built on the CDLP®
CDLP®
The foundation for mortgage professionals
REM-S™
Stands beside both. Open to CDLPs and real estate professionals.
The CDLP® comes first for mortgage professionals. The CDHN™ builds on it and does not replace it. Every CDHN™ is a CDLP® and remains one.
The REM-S™ stands beside the other two. Any CDLP® can add it, and so can a real estate professional who will never hold the CDLP®.
None of them is a higher rank. Each one names a role.
One professional can hold all three. What matters is which role they are serving in on a particular case. That is settled in writing before the work begins, and it does not change partway through. A professional who has already advised one spouse in a divorce cannot later serve as the neutral in that same case.
The letters tell you what someone is trained to do. The engagement letter tells you which role they are serving in on your case.
Which one does this case need?
When the case needsSomeone to plan the housing and financing for one spouse while the agreement is a draft, and possibly handle the loan.
A CDLP®When the case needsOne professional to plan for both spouses, when both are comfortable with that professional handling a loan and the interest is disclosed in writing.
A CDLP®, jointlyWhen the case needsAn answer about the house that both sides will rely on, from someone with no stake in any loan, in a collaborative case, a mediation, or by court appointment.
A CDHN™When the case needsA real estate professional or CDLP® on the home decision who knows how to work inside a mediated or collaborative case.
A REM-S™What none of them are
Each designation is granted by the Divorce Lending Association, which publishes the practice standards and code of ethics CDLPs are held to. Every CDHN™ also signs the conflict rule described above.
To check whether a professional holds a designation, use the CDLP® directory or Find a REM-S™.
If you are a family law professional deciding who to bring onto a case, or a mortgage or real estate professional deciding which designation fits your practice, we would welcome the conversation.
Mortgage loan originators can start with the CDLP® certification page. Real estate professionals can start with the REM-S™ certification page.
Jody Bruns, CDLP®, REM-S™, is President and Founder of the Divorce Lending Association. She holds more than 35 years in mortgage and finance and practices as an active divorce mortgage planner. She created the CDLP® (Certified Divorce Lending Professional) designation, the REM-S™ (Real Estate Mediation Specialist) certification and the Certified Divorce Housing Neutral™ designation, and is the author of A House Divided: The Clash Between Divorce, Real Estate & Mortgage Financing.
The Divorce Lending Association has been advancing divorce mortgage planning as a professional discipline since 2011. It creates and governs the CDLP®, REM-S™ and CDHN™ designations, publishes practice standards and a code of ethics, and maintains a public national directory that any referring professional can check.