Spousal Support Paperwork: It’s That Important

There’s not a lot more intimidating than having your lawyer hand you a giant stack of papers that are chock full of jargon, formulas, and little grids to fill out — and then hearing him say “bring this back as soon as you possibly can…it’s important.”

How important are we talking? When it’s the documentation of your financial status used by a court to establish the level of spousal support you can expect to leave your divorce with, it’s quite possibly the most important document affecting your future life. Fill it out accurately, and you could find yourself with a few hundred extra dollars each month for years to come. Don’t, and you probably won’t, it’s that simple.

This document is, effectively, the foundation of every future argument you can make regarding spousal support — and like the foundation of a house, if it’s got cracks or it’s leaning too far, the house won’t stand. It needs to be honest, thorough, and timely to be effective. So how do you maximize its effect while minimizing the appearance of impropriety? Here are some steps:

Pay Attention to the Time Period
The important part on these documents is to ensure that they reflect a time period typical of the marital norm in your relationship. If your spouse went on a revenge-shopping spree or took an unannounced vacation to Bora-Bora, don’t reflect that in the paperwork. If you were too tense because of the impending divorce to eat and your food budget in the past several weeks was dramatically lower than normal, don’t reflect that in the paperwork. Try your best to accurately show what a ‘normal’ month was like for you and your ex-to-be.

Mind Your Documentation
If there’s a piece of paper that shows how and where the money went during the relevant time period, try to include it. There’s no such thing as too much information. You’ll want copies of:

• Bank account statements, preferably with actual cancelled checks or scanned copies;
• Credit card statements;
• Your insurance policies — show the co-pays, co-insurance, and deductibles;
• Credit reports;
• Loan applications, including auto leases, mortgages, and so on;
• Your and your spouse’s passports;
• Form 4506 from www.IRS.gov — takes $50 to download, but it’s well worth it;
• Gift tax returns;
• Frequent Flyer miles and other ‘point balances’ on any such clubs you’re a part of; and
• Any receipts you have for specific large purchases (i.e. appliances, T.V.s, etc.)

Challenging Expenses to Document
Some expenses are easy — the receipt says right here we spent $491 on that one insane dinner we ate ringside with Kanye. But others are extremely difficult to keep track of, because there’s simply not a lot of documentation about the nature of the purchases. These include:

• ATM withdrawals/cash back: the best way to handle estimating your ATM withdrawals is to mentally ‘replay’ a week and note all of the instances in which you withdrew money.
• Gifts: it’s not always difficult to remember the big gifts that you gave your spouse or child – but do you remember the gifts you gave your child’s teachers? The gifts you gave out to your child’s friends for their birthdays?

• Department Stores: Unless you have specific receipts, it can be impossible to divide these expenses ‘properly’ into Food, Clothing, and other appropriate categories. It’s probably best to just leave these in the “Department Store Expenses” category.
• Business Expenses: Anything you spent from a business credit card or debit card can be hard to track, but it still counts in your analysis!

Seriously, It’s That Important!
The more bullet-proof your analysis, the more detail you go into, the more likely you are to convince the court that the spousal support decision should go in your favor — and that will have a significant financial impact on your life for years to come. If you’re unsure of your ability — or your current analyst’s ability — to get to the bottom of it, call Gucciardo Family Law today and we’ll guide you toward the resources you need: (248) 723-5190.