Most couples have one party who is much more conversant with the income, assets and liabilities of the family. At the same time, when you initiate Divorce, obtaining and gathering all financial data is a requirement in order to move forward with the process. Knowledge of the financial status of your families’ affairs is critical to a resolution. In order to commence the disclosure process, many Illinois counties have rules requiring the completion of a Financial Disclosure within a set time frame following the filing of a divorce. Until the Disclosure Statements have been completed, other discovery is generally on hold.

Many clients refer to the Financial Disclosure as your whole life on paper. It requires you to disclose information regarding your income, all of your assets (home(s), bank accounts, retirement accounts, stocks/bonds, investment accounts, life insurance, etc.), all of your debts/liabilities (credit cards, loans, etc.) and all of your expenses (household, auto, miscellaneous, children’s expenses, business, etc.). You must also start to anticipate what expenses you will have following a divorce.

The simple financial things we do in our everyday lives become a mind blowing experience when trying to put it all down on paper. The best way to be prepared is to gather the most current documents/statements for all assets so when filling out the Disclosure Statement you have all the information required right in front of you. This will take the stress off from guessing information and just trying to remember everything. It is fairly common that clients are either shocked by the total picture of their finances or alternatively, they realize how much information needs to be acquired to understand the family finances.

It is important that you take this step of the process seriously and work hard to provide accurate information. You may also need to update the information from time to time through out your case. Our team will help you work through this initial step to ensure that you fully disclose your finances and understand how to obtain any information which may be missing.

Please contact our office for a free consultation to review your obligations of disclosure during the divorce process and to understand what the Court will consider in dividing your income, assets and liabilities. We will also provide the necessary forms with instruction on how to disclose the required financial information during the divorce process.