Advancing the discipline of divorce mortgage planning through education, certification, and professional standards.
The Divorce Lending Association establishes the professional standards governing mortgage and real property decisions in divorce, certifies the practitioners who apply them, and serves the family-law and financial professionals who depend on them.
Est. 2014
Founding
1,000+
Certified CDLP® professionals
50 states
Member coverage nationwide
Published
Practice standards & code of ethics
Who you are
What's your role, and where do you fit in?
The Divorce Lending Association serves three audiences. Choose your path below to find the resources, credentialing, and support designed for your role.
Mortgage professional
Become a Certified Divorce Lending Professional.
Earn the credential governing mortgage practice in divorce, and join the body that establishes the standards.
Explore CDLP® certificationFamily-law & financial professionalRefer with confidence.
Find credentialed CDLPs and join the allied professional network for attorneys, mediators, and financial planners.
For professionalsMember of the publicGoing through a divorce.
Find a CDLP® near you or book a free, confidential 20-minute housing consult on divorcehousing.com.
For the publicProprietary CDLP® software
What the mortgage will actually support, in writing.
The Divorce Mortgage Planning Report™ answers it in nine sections a certified practitioner prepares on association software. The attorney puts it in the file. The mediator works from it. The client acts on it.
- Feasibility. Whether the house can actually be kept, and on what terms.
- Income. Which income the settlement creates will qualify, and which will not.
- Risk. Named exposures and a stated feasibility classification, not a general impression.
- Method. Built on Mortgage Capacity Mapping™, the four-phase framework taught in the CDLP® curriculum.
Original research
Two reports, read from the primary sources.
We read the statutes, regulations and agency guidance, quote them, and say plainly what they do and what they do not do. Both are free, carry no form, and are free to quote unaltered with attribution.
The Divorce Assumption Report
Three states now require conventional mortgages to be assumable in a divorce. Not one of them releases the departing spouse from the note. Includes a fifty state status table.
Read the reportThe Military Divorce Assumption Report
Where the veteran keeps the house, VA does not require an assumption to release a spouse. Where the veteran leaves, the entitlement stays encumbered until payoff.
Read the reportWritten for family law attorneys, mediators and divorce financial professionals.
Recognition & collaboration
Recognized across the family-law, financial, and mortgage communities.
The Divorce Lending Association and the discipline of divorce mortgage planning are recognized by professionals working at the intersection of family law, financial planning, and mortgage finance.
For mortgage professionals
Join the association that defines the discipline.
CDLP® certification is membership in the body that establishes the standards. Family-law professionals refer to CDLP® practitioners because they trust the credential. The credential is trusted because the association governs it.
Certification
CDLP® curriculum, exam, and credential
Comprehensive training in family law fundamentals, equitable distribution, and mortgage qualification under divorce conditions.
Standing
Listing in the public CDLP® register
Recognized presence in the official directory used by attorneys, mediators, and divorcing homeowners nationwide.
Tools
Mortgage Capacity Mapping™ and CORE Membership
Proprietary analytical frameworks and a member workspace built specifically for divorce mortgage planning.
Convening
Annual symposium and CE programming
Member-only education, peer network, and recognized continuing education credits across professional disciplines.
Divorce Housing Insights
Posted on Aug 14, 2026
The Layers of a CDLP® Practice: From a Single Question to the Witness Stand
Read More +
Posted on Jul 26, 2026
One Niche, Every Referral Source: How CDLP® Certification Grows Your Entire Mortgage Business
Read More +
Posted on Jul 20, 2026
The Issue With Overlooking Property Taxes in Divorce
Read More +
Common questions
Answers, grouped by who is asking.
The questions we are asked most often, answered plainly. Where a question has a longer answer with citations, the link goes to it.
Family law professionals
Can a divorce decree require a lender to release my client from the mortgage?
No. A settlement agreement binds the spouses. It does not bind the noteholder, which was never a party to it. A court can order a party to refinance or to seek a release, and it cannot order a lender to grant one.
This is the most common and most costly misunderstanding in divorce real property work, and it is why the release question has to be settled while the agreement is still a draft.
Can one spouse assume the mortgage and take the other off it?
Those are two separate acts. An assumption transfers the debt to the assuming spouse. A release of liability, granted only by the noteholder, is what removes the departing spouse from the note, the credit report and any deficiency. An assumption without an express release leaves both parties liable.
And most conventional fixed-rate loans carry no assumption right in the note at all. Three states have now legislated on this, and none of them releases the departing spouse.
My client has a VA loan. Does the veteran have to do a full assumption to remove a spouse?
Not where the veteran keeps the house. VA has stated that a servicer does not need to complete an assumption to release a spouse when a decree awards the property to the veteran. The servicer needs the decree and a recorded deed, and nothing else.
It does not take the departing spouse off the note, and it does not free up the veteran's entitlement. Both of those are separate questions with different answers.
What does a CDLP® actually do on a case, and when should one be brought in?
A Certified Divorce Lending Professional works the lending side of the marital home while the agreement is still a draft: testing whether a proposed buyout or retention can be financed, identifying which income the settlement creates will qualify, and flagging language that cannot be performed.
The written output is the Divorce Mortgage Planning Report, which the attorney puts in the file and the mediator works from.
Do you offer continuing education for attorneys and mediators?
Yes. The Alignment Series is accredited for family law attorneys, mediators, financial professionals and judicial officers, and it is built on divorce mortgage planning rather than on general mortgage material.
Mortgage professionals
Why do I need additional training when I already know mortgage guidelines?
Because guidelines are not the problem. The problem is a settlement agreement drafted before anyone tested whether the financing works, and the questions that come with it: which support income will qualify and when, what the decree has to say for a lender to use it, and which language makes a plan unexecutable.
Licensing covers the loan. It does not cover the divorce.
How is CDLP® certification different from other divorce training courses?
It is a credential rather than a course. The Divorce Lending Association sets the curriculum, publishes practice standards and a code of ethics, requires continuing education to keep the designation, and maintains a public directory any referring professional can check.
It is also the only such credential built for the lending side of the transaction.
How will the CDLP® designation help me grow my business?
It changes who refers you. Divorce work arrives through attorneys, mediators and financial neutrals rather than through real estate agents, and those referral sources send files to someone who can answer the questions they cannot.
Are there continuing education requirements to keep the CDLP® designation?
Yes. The designation carries ongoing education and adherence to the association's practice standards and code of ethics. A credential that cannot be lost is not a credential.
Divorcing homeowners
Can I just assume the existing mortgage on our family home after the divorce is final?
Sometimes, and it is not the same thing as getting your former spouse off the loan. Most conventional fixed-rate loans cannot be assumed at all, and where an assumption is possible the departing spouse stays liable unless the lender grants a separate written release.
An assumption also gives you no access to equity, so it does not fund a buyout on its own.
How do I get my name off the mortgage after the divorce?
Only the lender can take you off, and only by granting a written release of liability, or by the loan being refinanced or paid off. A quitclaim deed transfers the property. It does nothing to the debt.
Until one of those happens the loan stays on your credit report, and a missed payment is still yours.
Why is getting a mortgage different during and after a divorce?
Because the settlement agreement changes what a lender is allowed to count. Support income has to be structured and documented a particular way before it qualifies, debts assigned in the decree may still count against you, and the order of events can decide whether financing is possible at all.
Where should I start if I am going through a divorce and there is a house involved?
Start with the housing question. It is usually the largest asset and it carries the tightest deadlines. DivorceHousing.com is our resource written for homeowners rather than for professionals, with a step by step guide, calculators and help by state.
How do I find a Certified Divorce Lending Professional near me?
The association maintains a public national directory, searchable by name or location, that any homeowner or referring professional can check.
Publications
Position Papers and standards from the association.
Aug
27
27
What a Divorce Settlement Can and Cannot Do About the Mortgage
A settlement binds the spouses, not the noteholder. Three states now require conventional mortgages to be assumable, and none releases the departing spouse.
Read More +
Jul
29
29
CDLP® Doesn't Teach You What to Do. It Teaches You How to Think.
CDLP® certification doesn't teach you what to do, it teaches you how to think. Learn why the knowledge, not the loan, grows a loan officer's whole business.
Read More +
Jul
21
21
How to Tell If a Professional Certification Is Actually Credible
A field guide, using four divorce-adjacent designations (CFP®, CDFA®, CDRE®, and CDLP®) to show what separates a real credential from a weekend badge, and why the divorce-lending seat is the one most often filled by someone who never earned it.
Read More +
Get CDLP® Certified Today!
The Certified Divorce Lending Professional (CDLP®) Certification prepares you to become an integral member of the professional divorce team by providing you with the required background knowledge base, business model, and ongoing marketing and support.
Get Certified Today