During my divorce, I was a mess. I lost my family that I wanted. I lost my financial security. I lost my home. I lost my career that I worked so hard to get. It sucked!
So, I re-educated myself and got organized for my divorce. I studied Bookkeeping, because I wanted to understand what was going on when they were talking about money and finances.
While working with my clients, most are not sure about their finances; they are too scared to look or just think they are making more than they are. Both are dangerous when dealing with your finances.
Now it is time for you to get yourself organized and take control of your future.
Getting your documents organized:
If you haven’t been organizing your documents, don’t worry. Take it slowly and take breaks when you need it. Break it down into smaller parts, you don’t have to do it all at once.
The following is a general list of items that you will need to complete the Financial Affidavit. In British Columbia is it called an F8 form and is required before starting the process.
Disclaimer: Every area will be slightly different and may request other items, so this is a guide of what you might need.
Step 1 You will need:
- File box(s) or a filing cabinet.
- Hanging files
- Files
- Pen
When getting these items, it doesn’t have to be fancy. Don’t stress yourself on the look, just the basics. I reuse my folders and hanging files over and over again. As long as you can see and read what is in the file who cares what they look like.
Step 2 Label:
- Label the hanging files by year
- The first hanging file will have the current year and work your way back to the last three full years.
- Label the files
- Step 3 is a list of items that you may or may not have. Just collect as much as you can and then work on the more difficult items to collect.
- Start putting the documents into the correct file and year
Step 3 Collecting Documents:
Taxes:
- Federal & Provincial (State) Tax – for the preceding 3 years
Income:
- Pay stubs or evidence of earned income for the 3 months before the service of the financial affidavit
- A statement identifying the source and amount of all income for the 3 months, if not reflected on the pay stubs produced
Real estate:
- All deeds to real estate in which presently own or owned an interest within the past 3 years
- All present leases in which own an interest
- All lease agreements presently owe
Banking:
- All periodic statements for the last 3 months for all checking accounts and for the last year for all savings accounts, money market funds, certificates of deposit, etc.
- All credit card and charge account statements and other records showing both of you indebtedness as of the date of the filing of this action and for the prior 3 months
- All loan applications & financial statements prepared for any purpose or used for any purpose within the 12 months preceding the service of the financial affidavit
- All promissory notes on which presently owe or owned within the past year
- All brokerage account statements for the last 12 months
Pension:
- Most recent statement for any pension, profit sharing, deferred compensation, or retirement plan and summary plan description for any such plan in which participant or alternate payee
Insurance:
- The declaration page, the last periodic statement, and the certificate for any group insurance for all life insurance policies insuring yourself and or your spouse
- All health and dental insurance cards covering either you and/or spouse and/or our dependent child(ren)
Business:
- Corporate, partnership, and trust tax returns for the last 3 tax years, in which I have an ownership or interest greater than or equal to 30%
Family Agreements:
- All premarital and marital agreements between the parties to this case
- If a modification proceeding, all written agreements entered between the parties at any time since the order to be modified was entered
- All documents and tangible evidence relating to claims for nonmarital status of an asset or debt.
- Any court order directing that you pay or receive spousal support (alimony) or child support