Well, as in a lot of areas, in family court knowledge is power. When you consult with an attorney prior to any kind of separation or anything, one of the questions that you should be prepared to ask is what type of documents you need in order to be able to prove what your financial situation is. We typically suggest getting copies of tax returns and bank statements for the last several years. If you have a business of your own, gather together a profit and loss statement and QuickBook accounts. We typically ask that all these documents be gathered prior to a filing so you have some idea of what is going to be identified as an asset of a marriage.
There are times that clients believe that their spouse has moved assets and transferred things in order to hide them. Normally the discovery process enables you to track most of that down. You can name other parties to be brought in to the litigation if you believe that your spouse has deeded pieces of property to someone else in an effort to prevent you from being able to get an equitable distribution of that asset. The court will want to know whether or not people are hiding things, and the court will assist a party in doing everything possible to make sure that when it determines a division of property that everything, both debts and assets, are included in that division.
Catherine Hendrix is a partner at the Law Offices of Lester & Hendrix where they are committed to solving divorce and separation issues. Families throughout South Carolina can rely on their team of Attorneys for advice and counsel.
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