Determining Marital Estate Value with Canterbury Law Group

April 20, 2016 - PRLog -- All too often, the divorce attorneys at Canterbury Law Group see a spouse beginning the divorce process without knowing the value of their marital estate. If you are unaware of your marriage finances or location, it is critical to now determine all your marriage assets. Since Arizona is a community property jurisdiction, generally speaking, spouses own equally almost all property acquired during the marriage, regardless of whose name is on it.  Also, half of each partner's income earned during the marriage is owned by the other partner, as well as debts incurred during the marriage are debts of the couple together.  It literally does not matter if "his name on title" or "her name is the only name on the account" if the assets inside those accounts were generated during marriage.

The "discovery" phase of your divorce case is used to determine information, including assets, debts, locations of same and of course their current values. In Arizona, court rules require mandatory disclosure by each side of any information that may impact the marital estate. Therefore, your spouse must voluntarily provide you all such information, even without a specific request. However, relying on your spouse's good will in adhering to this rule is not enough in many divorce cases. If informal requests for financial details go unanswered, or you do not feel confident you are receiving accurate information, you do have alternatives in gathering this information. Canterbury is especially well versed in unearthing and locating the "lost assets" and cash your spouse is claiming are no longer available to pay you your half.

•  Tax Returns. Personal, corporate and partnership tax returns can help in identifying property, accounts and assets sold during a given tax period. If your spouse is not forthcoming with copies of returns, or you believe the returns given to you are not the actual returns filed, you can request copies from the Internal Revenue Service.
• Court Issued Subpoenas. A subpoena can be issued to a person or entity not a part of your lawsuit, including financial institutions and employers. The recipient of the subpoena legally has ten business days to produce the information requested. When issuing a subpoena to a financial institution, your spouse's name and social security number is all that is needed in most cases to obtain information on accounts on which that social security number or name appears. Subpoenas to employers may work to obtain details including as history of pay, bonus information, employment terms and benefit information, such as retirement, pension, employee savings and stock option accounts.
• Additional Legal Discovery Tools. If additional information is needed to determine the value of your marriage, there are other discovery tools that require responses given under oath:

-          Interrogatories  - written questions to your spouse

-          Requests for Production of Documents - written requests to obtain certain documents

-          Requests for Admissions - written questions to your spouse asking that he or she to admit certain facts as true

-          Depositions - oral question and answer sessions at which your attorney asks questions of your spouse, an expert, or sometimes a third party in the presence of a court reporter, from whom a written transcript of the questions and answers can be obtained

• Outside Experts. In the unfortunate cases where a spouse is hiding assets or has engaged in pre-divorce planning, the hiring of third party specialists might be necessary in order to obtain the necessary information. Experts such as private investigators, asset training specialists and computer forensic professionals may be able to help you.

The bottom line: do not let your bullying spouse scare you into thinking that you "won't get anything" in a divorce. To the contrary, the law provides the exact opposite and document tracing and subpoenas are critical parts of your lawyers' strategy to locate and ensure you get your full pay out-for you and your kids.

About Canterbury Law Group

Canterbury Law Group, formerly Edwards & Cherney LLP, was founded in Phoenix, Arizona with dedication to providing legal counsel at the highest levels possible.  As authorities in the legal industry, the team at Canterbury Law Group was uniquely formed to provide legal counsel for cases dealing with litigation, corporate law, family law, federal bankruptcy and real estate. The team's attention, experience and sophistication allows for innovative resolutions that have a positive impact on clients.   For more information, visit http://www.canterburylawgroup.com.