Financial Statement Form 13.1

[oink]

Listen....for the last time, split it down the middle and input his share. Part 1 already dealt with asking how each person earns, and if you already had zero in there or entry level amount, then that will be taken into consideration

You need to get this form moving. Once he gets served, he will be required to do a financial disclosure. Concentrate on yourself and stop worrying about him

Right now my lawyer entered all (full 100%) expenses in my financial statement. So should I enter the same in his? I just do not want the amounts to be double counted....

 

[FREEATLAST2013]

There's a thought that the budget part of the financial statement is more to reflect estimated ongoing expenses and income post-separation, to help establish any need for spousal support, than it is to accurately reflect the marriage expenses.

So if your lawyer feels that you should be putting the full amounts in yours, what you put into his would be his projected expenses (for a cheap bachelor rental once he moves out!) and income (impute that MBA!). If he doesn't like it, tell him to complete his own damn statement. If he puts all zeroes, obviously this is inappropriate and you must take him to court.

What does your lawyer advise should be your reaction if he puts all zeroes? Mine would say that was unrealistic and proceed to estimate and impute and base the separation agreement on that.

Wanted to avoid sending emails to the lawyer (since will have to pay for this) but I just did it....

So for his expenses I can estimate what he would pay for things? So for example, while I will include rental amount (rather than mortgage), I can exclude property taxes, home insurance etc? Also, for our cell phone bills (currently bundled), I can just put his share of the cell phone bill?

And what should I put in as his income amount? In 2011 he has some small income ($2k), but none in 2012. Should I put income as zero? Keep in mind that I am trying to play nice, and keep things out of the courts. At this point, I am afraid that if I suggest income imputation I will just open a Pandora box.... so I would rather avoid doing this unless he specifically asks for spousal support.

And I guess when you rent you pay electricity, but water and heat are included? Sorry, its been a long time since I rented....

Am I to understand that these calculations (income and expenses) will be important ONLY IF he asks for spousal support?????? Otherwise the base income and expenses are not really used? And then if he goes after spousal support, HE has to take me to court, and at that time HE has to show his potential expenses? And at this point, I can respond with the imputed income amount???? Please let me know if I am understanding this correctly…..

 

[Pursuinghappiness]

Am I to understand that these calculations (income and expenses) will be important ONLY IF he asks for spousal support?????? Otherwise the base income and expenses are not really used? And then if he goes after spousal support, HE has to take me to court, and at that time HE has to show his potential expenses? And at this point, I can respond with the imputed income amount???? Please let me know if I am understanding this correctly…..

In a contested divorce situation, I wouldn't panick too much about the listing of expenses although you should try to get your NFPs as correct as possible. His expenses are for your current living arrangement, not the future one and the NFP is a "living" document meaning that you can change it. I can tell you that my listing of expenses...and my ex's were not even considered in any support calculation...especially since we moved out of the house that they were relevant to over a year ago.

The most relevant information is your incomes...and yes, if you go the contested route and he asks for support, you'd then request in your affidavit that the judge impute an income to him based on his education & experience. Proving entitlement to spousal support is based on capability...that he doesn't have a job doesn't mean he's not capable of having a job. You might want to start looking for and printing out samples of job postings for people with his qualifications in your area. The other thing you might want to mention, if you don't have children, is that he's mobile. He can move for employment.

I can honestly tell you, if he's able-bodied...he's gonna have a tough time proving to a judge that he can't provide for himself in some manner. You need show evidence of what income he's capable of earning....obviously, the lowest being a full-time minimum wage job.

You might want to take a look at this MySupportCalculator.ca

By the way, just to let you know...I think you're extremely wise in trying to pursue the mediation route first. A coworker of mine just got through a mediated separation agreement with a difficult spouse who was grinding her financially since she's the higher wage earner.

She had to deal with a little financial blackmail (ie, picking up utility bills she wasn't fully responsible for, some cash payouts so he'd sign, etc)...but overall, even with the stress and threats, she got the whole thing done in about 6 months with under 5k in legal fees. In comparison, I'm in my 3rd year of trying to get divorced with at least another year to go...and even with a very inexpensive lawyer and me carefully controlling my legal costs, I'm still around 30k in fees currently.

So my advice is compromise if you can, considering that it may be a hell of a lot cheaper in the long run and don't get caught up in getting hot-headed unless you absolutely have to (and sometimes you do). There is no winner once you go the contested route...you'll end up with unfair compromises either way.

The only good thing about going the contested route in your case is that he can't afford a lawyer and may not be eligible for legal aide. So he'll either have to borrow it or self-rep..and that might work in your favor.