Expand the following sections to learn more about the CDLP™ Certification and Business Building Platform.
The Role of the Certified Divorce Lending Professional
Above all else, the CDLP™ uses their knowledge and expertise to help the divorcing homeowner make a more informed decision regarding their home equity solutions and mortgage financing options.
The role of the CDLP™ is to assist the client and their lawyer or financial advisor to understand how the decisions they make today will impact the client’s ability to obtain mortgage financing in the future.
A Certified Divorce Lending Professional brings the financial and background knowledge of a solid understanding of the connection between Divorce and Family Law, financial and tax planning, and mortgage financing strategies as they all relate to real estate and mortgage financing in a divorce situation.
In over 70% of all divorces in the United States, real estate is involved and most often, so is the need for mortgage financing. Due to the unique mortgage financing requirements that divorcing clients often face, a Certified Divorce Lending Professional is a significant member of the Professional Divorce Team.
The role of the CDLP™ is to help the divorcing client and the other members of the professional divorce team understand the home equity solutions available and the challenges divorce can bring to mortgage financing during and after the divorce. When the CDLP™ is involved during the divorce process and not after the fact, many potential financing struggles can be avoided with valuable and educated input from the Certified Divorce Lending Professional.
The CDLP™ understands their role is not to provide legal or tax advice. Instead, their position on the professional divorce team is to help by providing insight on mortgage financing opportunities, recognizing potential legal or tax concerns that may arise in any given circumstance while bringing these concerns or opportunities to the attention of other team members.
- Serve as a neutral facilitator rather than an advocate and advisor representing only one party in the divorce.
- Become an essential part of the professional divorce team and become involved early in the process rather than as a post-decree referral.
- Recognize potential legal and tax implications concerning mortgage financing in divorce situations.
- Identify potential concerns with support/maintenance structures that may conflict with mortgage financing opportunities.
- Implement a strategic divorce settlement agreement while working with the professional divorce team that ensures the best opportunities to secure mortgage financing post-divorce.
- Work with divorcing couples in a collaborative setting and other Alternative Dispute Resolution methods.
- Become an Effective Expert Witness.
- And So Much More!
STEP 1 CDLP™ Certification Course
The Certified Divorce Lending Professional (CDLP™) Certification Course is a divorce mortgage planning training program designed to prepare you to become an integral member of the professional divorce team. How to identify appropriate mortgage financing and real estate strategies for divorcing clients while recognizing potential hurdles or opportunities regarding potential tax or legal concerns as they pertain to real estate and divorce.
Program Structure and Breakdown
Introduction to the Divorce Market
Divorce Principles
Grasp a thorough understanding of the divorce process while becoming a financial neutral in Alternative Dispute Resolution, working with high conflict clients, and becoming an effective expert witness.
Family Law and Real Estate
Apply your knowledge and understanding of real property and divorce mortgage planning as they intersect with the various aspects of family law in a divorce situation.
Financial and Tax Planning in Divorce with Real Property
Learn to recognize essential tax implications divorcing clients face and help set them up for success. Collaborate with the divorce team using tax strategies to improve income streams and cash flow for mortgage planning.
Divorce and Real Property
Work with divorcing sellers and buyers while avoiding common legal pitfalls.
Mortgage Planning and Divorce
Apply ethical lending standards in Divorce Mortgage Planning while identifying strategic opportunities that best fit the needs of the divorcing homeowner.
CDLP™ Examination
The examination consists of 100 multiple-choice questions. Candidates must pass with an 80% or higher to receive the CDLP™ designation. All exams are taken through the CDLP™ portal once all learning modules have been completed.
Maintaining Your Designation
- Once you complete the CDLP™ course, your designation is valid for one year, after which you must maintain an active membership with the Divorce Lending Association of $297/annually.
- To ensure continuing competency in tax codes, legislative, and other ongoing developments in the field of divorce mortgage planning, you must complete two (2) hours of continuing education provided by the Divorce Lending Association annually. (Included with your membership.) Why is continuing education required?
STEP 2 CDLP™ Business Development Coaching
In the simplest terms, business development can be summarized as the ideas, initiatives, and activities that help make a business better. Once the CDLP™ certification is complete, you can participate in our 6-step Business Development Coaching program.
While you are building your practice, you still need to maintain your existing business too. Business development should never replace what you currently have. Therefore, we coach you to build and develop your CDLP™ practice around your current mortgage successes.
Our 10|20 business development program helps you identify the right strategic partners. Then we coach you to intentionally create valuable relationships using our proven CDLP™ Professional Referrable Method that opens doors that others struggle to get through.
Our belief is that service before the sale is the winning formula to building a powerful divorce mortgage planning practice.
Once you have successfully started creating strategic relationships, we help you manage your success with the CDLP™ Business Management program.
Business Development Coaching is available either on-demand or live-virtual and is included as part of the CDLP™ certification.
STEP 3 CDLP™ Business Management & Marketing
The CDLP™ Business Management Platform provides a results-driven and robust marketing and business development platform. Keeping you top of mind with divorce professionals as their go-to CDLP™ Expert and resource.
Manage your Divorce Mortgage Planning Practice:
- Build your divorce mortgage planning practice with the CDLP™ Professional Referral Method by becoming the trusted advisor with a referable message.
- All-inclusive digital presence, featuring you as the local CDLP™ expert, focused on connecting, educating, and supporting referral partners and divorcing homeowners—and an internal CRM focused on delivering educational content, marketing, monthly newsletters, weekly divorce mortgage planning tips, relationship nurturing workflows, and more.
- Weekly group coaching calls to keep you growing, educated and motivated. We have a group coaching call every Thursday starting at noon eastern. Join industry coaching experts with experience in the divorce mortgage industry, including Jody Bruns, Greg Gale, and Jen Du Plessis.
- An entire vault of high-quality and compliant content-marketing collateral, including marketing flyers, booklets that attorneys love to keep on hand in their offices, personal brochures, and more.
- Specialty Education, including mediation training; negotiation strategies; divorce real estate; and more!
- Continuing Education Classes and Presentations | Monthly Live Lunch & Leverage classes for your strategic partners in YOUR OFFICE or learn to present already approved courses on your own. Many offer Continuing Education credits for attorneys, CFP, and CDFA designations.
We create a culture of learning. Thus, helping CDLP™s acquire additional knowledge, skills, and expertise. Our coaching program is a practical approach to organizing, creating, capturing, and distributing knowledge. It also reduces the time required for knowledge transfer by providing direct access to our CDLP™ experts and peers. Our coaches can share the necessary knowledge and skills in an environment that promotes rapid learning and scaling.
We do limit the participation in the CDLP™ Business Management and Marketing platform to a limited number of CDLP™s per Metropolitan area. This limit is in place to make sure all CDLP™s have a significant market share opportunity, but it is also in place to maintain and control the value of a CDLP™.
Participation in the CDLP™ Business Management and Marketing is optional at $149/monthly per MSA paid semi-annually.
