If you are in the process of separating and settling financial matters, it is vital that you understand the importance of providing and receiving financial disclosure to and from your former spouse.
In family law financial proceedings, Rule 6.06 of the Family Law Rules imputes each party with a duty of full and frank disclosure. This means that you must provide to your former spouse all information financial relevant to the dispute, and vice versa. You and your former spouse will be required to provide to each other copies of all financial documents that relate to your property settlement. A document will be relevant if it discloses information on your assets, liabilities and superannuation entitlements.
Below is a general list of disclosure documents that you may be required to disclose:
Please note that this list is not exhaustive and you may be required to disclose further documents. The nature and complexity of the property pool will inform whether any additional documents are required to be disclosed.The aim of this process is to gather as much information from each party as possible to verify the extent of the asset pool and contributions made by both parties. This information will help guide the property pool division.
Should either yourself or your former spouse fail to provide sufficient financial disclosure, the Court has wide discretion with regard to consequences. The Court may simply order the non-disclosing party to provide further financial disclosure. The Court may even require the non-disclosing party to pay the other party’s legal costs. Alternatively, the Court may find the non-disclosing party guilty of contempt of Court and issue a serious penalty or fine. Another approach the Court may take is to dismiss the non-disclosing party’s application.
Ultimately, a failure to provide sufficient financial disclosure demonstrates a lack of respect to the Court and may negatively impact any family law related matter. None of these outcomes are favourable to any party involved, therefore it is always the best option to disclose as much financial material as possible to avoid an adverse outcome. We advise that you provide as much disclosure as possible from the outset and your solicitors should be able to discern which documents are relevant or not.
If you believe that your former partner is withholding financial documents, and your matter is before the Court, there are processes via the Court rules that your family lawyer can pursue on your behalf. For instance, you may wish to:
Both yourself and your former spouse should come to the property settlement with a ‘cards facing up’ approach. This mindset can help facilitate an amicable and straightforward resolution. As discussed above, selectively withholding financial information is a very poor decision that can negatively impact your interests in the property settlement.
Should you have any questions or need clarification on this process, be sure to contact one of our solicitors at James Noble Law to better understand your rights and responsibilities.
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