Despite its cost, wisely used discovery can be well worth the time and money it takes. Although it can be time consuming, it also generally can be accomplished during the mandatory waiting period. If you suspect your spouse has hidden assets, or hasn’t been forthright about his or her income, or you feel that you need answers to questions such as why your spouse feels your marriage broke down, explore using discovery procedures with your lawyer. Most cases require only a few subpoenas, which can be a very cost-effective way of resolving financial disputes. Subpoenas are commonly issued to employers for income and benefit information. One subpoena, which typically costs $50 to $100, can be served on the employer for the past 2-3 years of records. You can use the information from that subpoena to double-check income, pension records and health insurance plans.
Similarly, most people maintain their money in only a few places. If the bank records which you and your spouse have are incomplete or not fully disclosed, you can issue a subpoena to the bank or brokerage house which holds the account. When they turn over the records, you can compare the records against your spouse’s financial disclosures. In such instances, using simple discovery techniques can be cost effective and efficient.
Extensive discovery, on the other hand, is expensive. If you’re taking depositions, your costs quickly add up when you account for lawyer time and court reporter fees. Issuing 20 or 30 subpoenas to financial institutions tends to be wasteful and expensive. If you don’t need subpoenas, try not to use them. It isn’t worthwhile to spend $1000 to find only $1000. You and your lawyer can work together to quantify what you suspect is missing. Then you can make decisions about how extensively to delve versus what level of seeking is not worthwhile.
Jeannette absolutely, positively did not trust her husband. She felt he was lying about absolutely everything. For years she’d believed every word he said, and then one day she found out he was having an affair. After that, her trust in him evaporated. Although her husband was a police officer who earned $50,000 a year, she was convinced that he had money hidden. Because she was so suspicious, and because police officers often have overtime pay which can be hard to accurately calculate, as well as substantial pensions, we issued a subpoena to his employer. We received the income and pension records from the employer. Sure enough, the husband had made a mistake (intentional or not) on his financial affidavit and had not included some overtime income. He had also underestimated his pension benefits. It was only about $50 per week in income and $2500 from his pension, and his lawyer, embarrassed at his client’s mistake, quickly revised his financial statement. This cost about $50. It helps if you can feel more in control of your process by knowing as much as you can. For articles, plans and checklists see http://www.peace-talks.com/divorceinformation.php. Some terrific books are listed at http://www.peace-talks.com/books.php.
Excerpted from Your Divorce Advisor: A Lawyer and a Psychologist Guide You Through the Legal and Emotional Landscape of Divorce (Simon & Schuster/Fireside 2001). For more information: http://www.yourdivorceadvisor.com/.
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