You don’t know what you don’t know. This can be a problem when getting a divorce. Often there is one person in the marriage who knows the majority (if not all) of the parties’ financial information and there is one person who knows none of it. Interestingly, it is not always the primary wage earner who knows the financial information. Sometimes it the stay at home spouse whose job it was to actually pay the bills. If everything is going along smoothly in a marriage it’s not an issue.
However, when a divorce is looming knowledge about the family’s finances become important. Questions arise such as: How much money do I need to live comfortably? How much alimony will I pay or receive? After alimony will I have enough money to live comfortably?
The litigation process provides offers many opportunities to get answers through the discovery process. The first part of the discovery process in a family action is the Case Information Statement which we have blogged about previously. On the Case Information Statement parties provide information about their income, their expenses and their debts. The next step in discovery is Interrogatories and a Notice to Produce. Interrogatories are written questions that you can ask your spouse and they are required to answer. A Notice to Produce is a written list of items that you can demand your spouse provide – such as bank account records, credit card statements, etc. Parties can also take depositions or each other and subpoena documents directly from the source – for example, the bank itself. We at the Edens Law Group are here to answer any additional questions you may have regarding the divorce process in New Jersey. Please contact a Chester NJ divorce lawyer at in order to schedule a free consult.
