The Importance Of Accurate Financial Disclosures In Divorce Cases

Some divorce cases are simpler than others; if you are worried that divorce will lead to a trial where mutual friends of the couple testify against one spouse or the other, your fears are probably unfounded. Most couples reach an agreement during divorce mediation about how to divide their marital property and, if they have minor children, on a co-parenting schedule. Some couples do not even have to attend mediation. If you and your spouse can reach an agreement before you file your divorce petition, or if you have the resources for collaborative divorce, then you can even file for an uncontested divorce petition, where the court just makes your divorce official by signing off on the property division scheme that you and your spouse, with or without a lawyer, have drafted. Even in the simplest divorce cases, though, the parties must submit financial disclosures detailing their separate and marital assets and debts. There is no simple solution if, after your divorce is final, you want the court to divide or consider assets or debts that you did not mention in the original divorce petition. For help preparing accurate financial disclosures and getting a fair divorce settlement, contact a Birmingham divorce lawyer.

Sloppiness on Your Part Does Not Constitute Abuse of Discretion on the Part of the Family Court

When you read the appeals court’s decision, you can only wonder how the trial court reached a decision in Wendy and Mark’s divorce case at all. The parties gave mutually irreconcilable accounts of how their marriage broke down and about each spouse’s financial situation. Both spouses contradicted themselves about which of them was intent on divorcing and which was still trying to reconcile. The trial court awarded the marital home to Wendy, even though Mark has bought the house and lived in it continuously for more than a decade before the parties married. Ordinarily, this would mean that the house was Mark’s separate asset, but the home equity that accrued during the marriage was a marital asset, so Mark should pay Wendy an equalizing payment for her share of the home equity.

Furthermore, the trial court’s decision, and indeed the couple’s divorce petition and financial disclosures, failed to account for a personal injury settlement Wendy had received during the marriage. Normally, a personal injury settlement is the separate property of the injured person. If the other spouse wants the trial court to divide the settlement money, he or she must persuade the court that the recipient spouse used the money as a marital asset, such as by spending it to pay down the mortgage on the marital home or depositing it in a marital bank account. In Mark and Wendy’s case, the appeals court affirmed the trial court’s decision.

Contact Peeples Law About Preventing Mistakes in Your Divorce Petition

A Birmingham family law attorney can help you mention all the relevant details in your divorce petition.  Contact Peeples Law in Birmingham, Alabama today to schedule a consultation.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11205271229216408050&q=divorce+vehicle&hl=en&as_sdt=4,61,62,64&as_ylo=2016&as_yhi=2026