"And you will put those of us that do what I do [family law litigation] in an uncomfortable position for you if you haven't properly disclosed information to both parties and involved both parties," she said. 

Remaining neutral can come up in cases that were innocuous prior to the divorce proceedings, such as filing tax returns. She talked about one case she worked on where the spouses were going to file jointly but couldn't find language that both parties were satisfied with as to how they were going to do so. That led one spouse to decide that he was just going to file separately, which then created "a whole issue of what deductions he was going to take, what deductions she was going to take." But then, after the couple informed the judge that they were going to file separately, the other spouse's attorney said, "No, we want to file jointly; send us the indemnification agreement." Poller said that her client, "who has now spent another $10,000 having the accountant prepare a separate return," then said, "Forget it, I'm just going to sign my separate return; let's move forward." 

Further, the basic kinds of services that a CPA might provide to a client, cannot be done during a divorce, meaning that "naturally wise financial decisions that people make" suddenly need to stop. Once a divorce begins, she said, the clock stops on a lot of processes. One spouse can't change beneficiary designations or life insurance policies, or transfer assets or refinance a home, without the agreement of the other spouse. The courts, she said, take these prohibitions very seriously.