• Statements verifying amounts of everything listed in your financial declaration.
• Complete tax returns for the previous two years.
• The last 12 months of pay statements.
• All loan applications or financial statements prepared in the past 12 months.
• Documents verifying real estate.
• All bank and investment statements for the previous 3 months.

Failure to provide your financial declaration and the above mentioned supporting documents, can result in a negative ruling by the judge on financial matters and other possibly other negative consequences.

Deadline for the Financial Declaration

If you are the Petitioner in the divorce, meaning if you are the one who filed the divorce, your complete financial declaration is due within 14 days after the Respondent files his/her answer to your divorce petition. The Respondent’s financial declaration is then due 28 days after the answer is filed. Do not miss your deadlines with regards to these disclosures. So what happens if the other party is refusing to provide you with their financial declaration or any other required information? You can file a motion to compel this information and ask the judge to hold the other party in contempt and issue sanctions and attorney fees (if you are represented by counsel) against them.

Help with the Financial Declaration and Disclosures

If you are not represented by an attorney and need help with your financial declaration or initial disclosures, call our office anytime to speak with a St. George Divorce Lawyer. The rules can be difficult to understand so it certainly helps to have an experienced attorney on your side walking you through the steps of providing the other party with the required financial declaration. Also, because the financial declaration can have such a huge impact on the financial issues in your case, you really should at a minimum review it with with a lawyer.

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Financial Declaration and Initial Disclosures

At the beginning of every divorce, both parties are required to fill out a financial declaration disclosing all of their income, expenses, assets, debts, etc. Full financial declarations are provided to each side. The financial declaration is extremely important as the judge in your case will take into account the information provided in this form in determining financial matters such as alimony, child support, and division of assets. As your attorney, we ensure your financial declaration is properly executed and ensure the other side has fully disclosed all relevant financial information.

Similar to your financial declaration, you must also provide, and the other side must do the same, initial disclosures detailing relevant evidence you intend to introduce at trial. This includes any witnesses, documents, etc. that you intend to bring as evidence in support of your claims. This covers anything known at the time you make the disclosures. There are court imposed deadlines for when your initial disclosures are due so it is important to speak with your St. George Divorce Lawyer early about this process.

Written Discovery Requests

To learn more about the other party’s claims, your attorney can send written discovery requests to them requiring they provide certain documents, answer questions, and admit or deny certain allegations. These are generally called requests for admissions, requests for production of documents, and interrogatories. Additionally, your lawyer can send subpoenas to any relevant party seeking any relevant piece of evidence. For instance, if you believe your spouse is hiding assets, subpoenas can be sent to accountants, banks, etc. to help find out more information about assets and related issues.

Written discovery requests are one of the most effective tools in your lawyers bag of tricks. Often these requests are battled between the attorneys because the potential impact a certain disclosures may cause. It is not uncommon for one side to object to a certain request and for the judge to have to intervene.

Depositions

Finally, a very useful tool in the discovery process is the deposition. We can call the other party to appear out our office to answer questions on the record. We can cross examine them just like we would at trial. This allows us to discover what their anticipated testimony would be at trial. The deposition is recorded and the testimony given can be introduced as evidence at trial.

Help From Utah Divorce Lawyers

We know how to use the discovery process to your advantage, to give you the best possibility of resolving your divorce in your favor. Retaining one of our Utah Divorce Lawyers can make a big impact on your ability to discover all the necessary information about your soon to be ex’s case. Call us today for an analysis of your matter.

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Divorce Education Classes

The family statutes in Utah require divorcing parents to attend divorce education classes before a court will sign off on a divorce. There are two classes and the total time for both combined is about 3 hours. The intent behind this law is to ensure that both parents understand how to act in the best interests of the child and to have common goals of parenting so the children are least impacted negatively by the divorce. The classes are held once per week in some counties. To find out more about the specific dates and times the classes are offered, you can visit the state court’s website.

Marital Property v. Separate Property

Generally speaking, any property and assets acquired during the marriage is considered marital property while any property owned by either party prior to the marriage is considered separate property. Marital property is subject to an equitable division while separate property generally not. In some cases, separate property may become marital property due to commingling, thus becoming subject to an equitable division between the parties.

Custody Factors

The general rules you should be aware of to help your arguments for custody are as follows: First, you should understand that the status quo can have a bid impact on the judge’s ultimate decision regarding custody. If you have been separated for a while and the parties have been following a joint custody arrangement and the children are well adjusted to this scenario, the judge may be inclined to follow that status quo because it typically means stability for the kids. Second, you may be entitled to have a custody evaluation in which a licensed professional makes a recommendation to the judge about custody following an evaluation. Finally, you should know that withholding parent time from the other parent can often wreck your custody case. You need to show to the judge that you will work towards the best interests of the kids and often that means facilitating parent time with the other parent.

St. George Divorce Attorney

If you are considering divorce or have been served with divorce papers by your spouse, call us today. The early steps you take to prepare your case are often vital. We will help you through this financial and emotional rollercoaster and work hard to protected you and your rights to your children and property. Call us with a St. George divorce attorney at out office as soon as possible.

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