• 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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What You Need to Know

Before you go to mediation, you need to know all the details surrounding your claims. For example, if there are financial matters at issue such as alimony or child support. You need to know your own total financial picture and that of your soon to be ex. You need to know your  spouse’s income, expenses, assets, etc. If there are child issues at stake, you need to know your spouse’s work schedule and the schedules of your kids. If assets are at issue such as a marital home, business, or bank accounts, you should know exactly the value of each asset. For any issue, you should be fully aware of how the law applies to your case. Understanding how a judge would rule if you don’t agree can help you manage your risk in the matter.

What You Need to Bring

Generally speaking, you should go to the mediation with evidence to support all of your claims. If financial matters are at stake, you should have a fully executed financial declaration with all supporting documents. You need to make sure the other side has provided you with the same. If a home is at issue, you should have an appraisal or other document demonstrating the value. If child custody is at stake, a calendar showing all the recent days of the last few months you have had with the children can have a great impact.

Bringing a Lawyer to Mediation

Even if you are yet to hire a lawyer, you should consider getting one on board if nothing else just for the mediation. A good St. George Divorce Attorney can help you adequately prepare and organize for the mediation to help ensure your best chance of reaching an agreement. Additionally, since the mediator is not looking out for your best interests, having an attorney by your side only focused on what is best for you can be invaluable. As mentioned, knowing how a judge would likely rule on any given issue is essentially to effectively mediating. A lawyer can help in the mediation and give you an idea of what you could expect at court.

The post A Successful Divorce Mediation Requires Preparation appeared first on St George Divorce Attorney | Southern Utah Family Lawyer | Mediation.