What financial disclosure do I have to give, and what can I ask for?

The sworn financial statement

Once a case involves support, property, or exclusive possession of the matrimonial home, the Family Law Rules require a sworn financial statement: Form 13 if the case is support only, Form 13.1 if property or the home is claimed. It lists income, expenses, assets and debts, sworn to be true, and is filed with the court and served on the other side.

The forms are detailed by design. Rushing them, or estimating rather than checking, is the most common source of later disputes — a figure that turns out to be wrong looks like concealment even when it was carelessness.

The federal disclosure duty

The Divorce Act adds its own layer. Section 7.4 requires a party to a proceeding, or a person subject to an order under the Act, to provide complete, accurate and up-to-date information whenever required to do so. Every document that starts or answers a divorce proceeding must certify that the party understands this duty, under section 7.6.

This is not limited to a one-time exchange. If your income, a business valuation, or your address changes while the case or a support order is ongoing, the duty to update the information continues.

What documents actually back up the numbers

A financial statement is a summary; the underlying documents prove it. Expect to exchange three years of tax returns and Notices of Assessment, recent pay stubs or a business's financial statements, bank and investment statements, mortgage and pension statements, and receipts for any special expenses claimed for the children. A property claim adds asset and debt values at both the separation date and, for married spouses, the date of the marriage.

Keep the documents organized as you gather them. A disclosure package that is dated, complete and easy to follow moves a case forward faster than one that arrives piecemeal.

When a spouse will not disclose

A court can order a party to produce specific documents, and can draw an adverse inference — assuming the missing information would have been unfavourable to the non-disclosing spouse — where disclosure is deliberately withheld. Costs, including on a full indemnity basis in serious cases, are a recognised consequence for failing to give proper financial disclosure.

Section 56(4) of the Family Law Act goes further for a signed agreement: a court may set aside a domestic contract, even years later, if a party failed to disclose significant assets, debts or other liabilities that existed when it was made.

We can bring a motion to compel the missing documents, or ask the court to draw an adverse inference, if your spouse still will not comply.