When you are preparing to divorce another, it is essential that you disclose all assets and liabilities that are both community property and separate property. This disclosure will be used to help the court decide a parenting plan, child support plan, division of marital property, and spousal support accordingly.
California requires that all divorcing couples make full disclosures to each other regarding all assets and liabilities. These disclosures must be served to the other party within 60 days of filing the divorce petition. In addition, the party must provide an income and expense declaration within the same timeframe. Parties are also required to update each other if there are material changes that do not reflect the information provided in these declarations.
Declarations can protect and preserve the marital estate and avoid loss or misuse when the state is distributed. They are also important to ensure fair and sufficient child and spousal support and to achieve a proper division of community assets and liabilities upon divorce. In some divorces, there is a reasonable fear that the other spouse may be hiding information or assets. In these cases, attorneys need to pursue discovery of the assets. Some parties will try to hide certain accounts or assets for their own personal use and will not want them factored in as part of the property division.
This is considered expressly illegal and can cause serious issues during the property division. Disclosures are provided under penalty of perjury, meaning that failure to provide accurate and complete information could result in criminal penalties. A bigger safeguard is that a settlement or judgment can be overturned if significant failures to disclose are later discovered. If you want more information about divorce disclosures or want to make sure to honor them correctly, don't hesitate to contact a trusted San Fernando divorce lawyer at Cutter & Lax today!
