Gray Divorce Financial Specialist
Pensions, retirement accounts, real estate — Maine's equitable distribution requires expertise. This guide shows you exactly what you're entitled to.
Leanne Ozaine, CDFA® & CFP® | Specializing in gray divorce for 50+
Turn Panic Into Power — $97If you're over 50 and facing divorce in the Portland metro area—including Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Yarmouth, Cumberland, or surrounding towns—you're likely dealing with financial complexity that goes beyond what most people understand. Child custody battles typically aren't your main concern—your children are grown, established in their own lives. Instead, your divorce centers entirely on protecting and dividing decades of accumulated wealth in one of Maine's most economically vibrant and expensive regions.
This is especially challenging if you've never personally managed the family finances. Perhaps your spouse ran a successful tourism business, worked for Maine Medical Center or Mercy Hospital with complex benefits, owned a lobster fishing operation, or managed coastal real estate investments. Now you're facing questions like:
You're not alone: We help Portland area clients who are learning to understand seasonal businesses, commercial fishing economics, and coastal real estate markets for the first time, often while grieving the end of a long marriage. Tourism income volatility, lobster industry wealth, and waterfront property appreciation aren't intuitive—but they're absolutely learnable, and understanding them is critical to protecting your financial future.
Here's what nobody tells you: A "fair" settlement can still leave you struggling.
50/50 sounds equal. But if you take the house and your spouse takes the 401(k), only one of you has retirement income. A pension isn't cash. Tax treatment turns "half" into 40% or 60% depending on which half you take.
Your lawyer knows the law. They don't know what you'll live on for the next 30 years.
Most people sign their settlement while still in emotional shock. The brain is in survival mode — the prefrontal cortex that makes rational decisions is literally offline. By the time the fog lifts, the settlement is final.
You need someone whose only job is protecting your financial future — not billable hours, not legal posturing. Someone who can show you exactly what different settlement scenarios mean for your life 5, 10, 25 years from now.
When you can't trust anyone else in this process, you can trust me.
The 5-step system that shows you what you'll actually live on, so you stop guessing and start knowing.
Calculate your real post-divorce income — including spousal support, assets, and earning potential — so you negotiate from facts, not fear.
Document gathering checklists tell you exactly what to bring to your attorney — so you walk in prepared, not panicked.
Map out your real expenses as a single person — before you fight for something you can't actually maintain.
The asset identification system helps you find accounts and property you might not even know exist.
22-page guide + video tutorials + checklists + templates
$97
Instant access. 100% money-back guarantee.
Get the Clarity You Need — $97Portland has emerged as a premier tourism destination known for its food scene, craft breweries, waterfront, and coastal charm. This creates unique divorce challenges around seasonal businesses, hospitality industry income, and tourism-dependent wealth.
Portland tourism industry divorce challenges:
For those new to managing finances: A seasonal business is fundamentally different from a year-round business. A restaurant earning $500K annually but only operating 6 months has very different cash flow, expenses, and risk than a business earning $42K monthly year-round. Understanding this seasonality is critical for dividing the business and planning your post-divorce budget.
Common scenario: Your spouse owns a successful waterfront restaurant in the Old Port. Summer revenue is $80K/month, winter is $15K/month. Annual profit is $150K, but all profit comes from summer. You have a $650,000 home in Falmouth, $400,000 in retirement accounts, and the business is valued at $500K-$800K (depending on method). How do you divide this while ensuring you have steady income post-divorce?
Portland and surrounding Casco Bay communities (South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough) are home to significant commercial lobster fishing operations. These represent substantial wealth but present unique divorce valuation challenges.
Portland-area lobster fishing divorce issues:
Critical non-transferability issue: Maine lobster licenses cannot be freely sold or transferred like other business assets. They're tied to specific individuals with apprenticeship requirements and zone limitations. You typically cannot "give half the fishing business" to a non-fishing spouse. Instead, we need creative financial structuring—often involving the fishing spouse keeping the license/business and offsetting that value with other marital assets (home equity, retirement accounts, etc.).
Valuation challenges: How do you value a lobster license that's worth $400K but can't be sold? How do you calculate income when annual gross revenue ranges from $80K-$200K? How do you account for physical decline and reduced fishing years? These questions require specialized expertise in both Maine divorce law and commercial fishing economics.
For gray divorce: If your spouse has been lobster fishing for 30+ years, this may be the family's primary asset and income source. Understanding license restrictions, equipment values, and realistic income capacity becomes essential for fair settlement and your post-divorce financial security.
Portland is Maine's healthcare hub, with Maine Medical Center, Northern Light Mercy Hospital, and numerous specialty practices. Healthcare industry employment creates complex benefits packages that complicate divorce.
Portland healthcare industry divorce considerations:
Nurse and medical staff income variability: A registered nurse at Maine Medical Center might have a base salary of $75K but earn $95K with shift differentials, overtime, and bonuses. For spousal support calculations, which number represents "income"? What happens if they stop working nights post-divorce and income drops? These questions require careful analysis.
Physician practice valuation: If your spouse owns a medical practice in Portland, business valuation becomes essential. Is it a solo practice worth primarily their personal goodwill? Or a group practice with infrastructure value? The distinction matters enormously for property division.
For gray divorce: Healthcare workers approaching retirement need careful planning around pension elections, retiree healthcare continuation, and 403(b) division. Making wrong choices can cost tens of thousands in lost benefits.
Portland metro coastal real estate—particularly Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Peaks Island, and Scarborough—has experienced extraordinary appreciation. Many gray divorce cases involve waterfront or near-coastal homes that represent the couple's largest asset.
Portland area coastal real estate divorce issues:
Common scenario: You've lived in a Cape Elizabeth home for 25 years. You bought it for $425,000 using $100,000 from your spouse's inheritance (separate property) and $325,000 marital funds. It's now worth $1.1M. How much is marital property? How do we calculate appreciation? Can you afford the property taxes and maintenance on one income? Should you sell and downsize or buy out your spouse?
Critical decision for gray divorce: At 55-65 years old, taking on a large mortgage to buy out a $1.1M house may not be feasible or wise. We need to model whether keeping the house jeopardizes retirement security or whether selling and downsizing makes more financial sense—even if emotionally difficult.
Peaks Island considerations: Island living has unique costs (ferry fees, potentially higher grocery/supply costs, limited year-round services). If you're divorcing and one spouse wants to keep the Peaks Island home, understanding the true cost of island retirement on one income is essential.
Portland has developed a growing technology and professional services sector—software companies, marketing agencies, consulting firms, insurance (UNUM), financial services. These knowledge workers often have unique compensation and equity considerations.
Portland tech and professional services divorce issues:
UNUM employee benefits: Long-term UNUM employees may have traditional pensions (if hired pre-2000s) plus 401(k) plans. Understanding both defined benefit and defined contribution retirement benefits is essential for fair division.
For gray divorce: If your spouse works in Portland's professional services or tech sector with significant 401(k) balances, stock options, or partnership interests, understanding vesting, valuation, and tax implications becomes critical for protecting your financial future.
Cape Elizabeth represents some of Portland metro's most valuable real estate and highest concentration of wealth. Divorces here often involve dramatic real estate appreciation, professional careers, and significant retirement assets.
Cape Elizabeth-specific considerations:
Falmouth offers a mix of professional families, coastal living, and proximity to Portland. Gray divorce cases often involve healthcare executives, business owners, and dual-professional-income couples.
Falmouth-specific considerations:
Yarmouth and Cumberland offer more affordable alternatives to Cape Elizabeth/Falmouth while maintaining excellent schools and quality of life. These communities attract families who've built wealth over 20-30 year careers.
Yarmouth/Cumberland considerations:
In Portland's diverse economy mixing tourism, healthcare, lobster fishing, and coastal real estate, we work with clients divorcing after 20, 30, or 40+ years of marriage. Here's what makes gray divorce financially complex in this region:
If you've spent decades in the Portland area building a life and career, you've likely accumulated wealth through:
Common scenario: Your spouse has been a nurse at Maine Medical Center for 28 years. You own a $750,000 home in Cape Elizabeth (purchased for $325,000), have $550,000 in combined retirement accounts, and your spouse has a small pension plus retiree healthcare. You also own a two-unit rental property in the West End generating $36,000/year. How do you divide this fairly while ensuring you both can retire comfortably?
Portland's tourism-dependent economy means many divorces involve seasonal income—whether from restaurants, vacation rentals, charter fishing, or other hospitality businesses. This creates challenges:
When you're 50, 60, or older, you don't have decades to "start over" financially. Portland metro's high cost of living makes this especially challenging.
Critical questions:
Your coastal home may be your largest asset—worth $700K-$1.5M with $400K-$900K in equity. But is keeping it financially wise?
Considerations:
For gray divorce: Don't let emotional attachment to your home jeopardize retirement security. We need to honestly assess whether you can afford the house long-term, or whether selling and downsizing provides better financial stability.
Portland metro is Maine's most expensive region for housing, property taxes, and general cost of living. Post-divorce budgeting requires realistic assessment of whether you can maintain your current lifestyle.
Cost realities:
For gray divorce: If you've lived comfortably on two incomes totaling $150K-$250K, transitioning to one income of $60K-$100K requires significant lifestyle adjustment. We need to model your post-divorce budget realistically, including whether staying in Portland metro is financially viable or whether relocating to a more affordable Maine community makes sense.
If you co-own a tourism business, divorce forces difficult succession decisions. Unlike corporate stock that can be easily divided, operating businesses require decision-making.
Options and considerations:
Valuation challenges: Portland's tourism businesses may have significant goodwill, established customer base, prime location, or unique market position. But they may also be highly owner-dependent. Distinguishing business value from owner value is critical for fair division.
Portland metro's diverse economy and high cost of living create unique spousal support considerations:
If the paying spouse has seasonal income (tourism business, lobster fishing), courts must decide how to calculate support. Using annual income ($120K) suggests $10K monthly earning capacity—but reality is $20K-$25K June-September, $2K-$5K October-May. This affects:
Nurses and medical staff often earn 15-30% more from shift differentials, overtime, and bonuses. Should spousal support be based on current income including these premiums? Or base salary assuming they might reduce hours as they age?
Given Portland metro's status as Maine's most expensive region, support amounts need to realistically reflect cost of living. Trying to maintain a Cape Elizabeth lifestyle on $3,000/month is mathematically impossible.
For gray divorce, what happens to spousal support when the paying spouse retires? Maine courts have discretion but generally recognize planned retirement as a legitimate basis for modification—though not necessarily elimination. This requires careful negotiation during initial divorce settlement.
You don't have to navigate Portland metro divorce finances alone. Let's turn your fear into financial strength.
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