Money and Divorce
Every divorce, whether it involves children, a long term or short term marriage, or any other circumstance that may be unique to you, involves financial issues. Some financial issues can be settled between the parties relatively easy; other money issues can be very difficult and take a lot of time to be able to solve.
In many cases one party or perhaps both has no idea what assets were acquired during the marriage, how many bank accounts there are, how much money is in the retirement accounts, whether there is life insurance, etc. With this lack of knowledge, going into a divorce can seem like a gauntlet. You have to get out of the dark and ensure that you know where all the money is. That is where we come in. Our Utah divorce lawyers will make sure to protect your assets by doing everything we can to discover all of the financial assets to which you are entitled.
The Financial Declaration
Utah divorce law provides certain protections for parties involved in a divorce case. One such protection is the requirement that each party mush fill out and provide the other party with a financial declaration. In a financial declaration a party must provide the following information to the other:
- Salary;
- Taxes;
- Insurance;
- Mortgage;
- Monthly living expenses;
- Debts;
- All real property;
- Retirement accounts
You also have to attach tax returns for the two previous years, documentation supporting all debts, property ownership, retirement accounts and everything else listed in the financial declaration. Additionally, you have to include loan applications, pay stubs for the last 12 months, documentation verifying the value of real property, and the most recent three months’ worth of bank account statements.
The information contained in the financial declaration is critical to making sure the appropriate amount of alimony, child support, and property division is included in the divorce decree. Otherwise, one of the parties runs the risk of getting ripped off.
If you are facing a divorce and have concerns about your financial situation call us at 801.413.1753 to set up a divorce consultation with a family law attorney.
