Mandatory Disclosure in Florida Divorce Cases

Management of the household finances has changed dramatically over time. Gone are the days of using physical check books and balancing check registers at the end of the month. Not to mention, receiving physical copies of statements—banking, paystubs, etc.—has become less common over time as more banks and businesses are adopting paperless methods. With the reduction of physical paper and adoption of online banking, people are paying less attention at the end of the month, instead choosing to rely on electronic access to their records to check in periodically on balances in real time. As a consequence of the ubiquitous availability of online records accessible via banking and payroll websites, people are also opting to relying on access to those platforms as the sole method of storing their financial records, and often neglect to store and organize their records personally. Third party online platforms offer a world of convenience, but failing to maintain a local copy of these records can make for some serious work in the event months, or even years, of statements need to be produced in a timely fashion.

When a divorce is filed in Florida, there are rules which require each party to automatically produce several financial documents for inspection. Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.085 outlines these requirements, including a deadline of 45 days after the service of the initial petition for divorce for the parties to turn over their respective records to the other side. While it is not uncommon for parties to seek extensions of time—informally by agreement or formally via a motion to the court—it's also not uncommon for parties to neglect their responsibility to produce such financial documentation resulting in delays and other negative consequences.

Much of the problem seems to stem from the fact that collecting documents from various online sources is not only tedious work, but most online platforms don't lend themselves to the wholesale collection of multiple documents at once. Many online platforms allow users to print or download individual documents but are otherwise not set up in such a way to download an entire batch of documents at one time. Additionally, the number of historical documents available online is subject to each institution's particular records policy, which can result in certain older documents not being readily available via online access. Generally, statements and other documentation are available upon request; however, the time it takes for such request to be processed tends to vary, and you might be unpleasantly surprised by the processing and copy cost charged for documents provided directly by the institution.

Another problem arises when certain documents are either not available online, or there is a lack of familiarity with where to locate documents. A common example would be that of summary plan descriptions for certain retirement accounts and pensions.  In some cases, employers offer an online portal to obtain these documents, or they may be maintained by a third-party administrator, but it is often the case for people to forget where to locate their documents when an extended period has passed since setting up their plan during employee onboarding. A company's human resources department will assist with this type of documentation, but it still takes time to make the necessary arrangements with HR.

All of this is to say that a little preparation and foresight can make a world of difference if you are intending on filing for divorce. Gathering the required mandatory disclosure is a task many clients grossly underestimate the time to complete; many seem to think the exhaustive list of required documentation can be gathered up in less than an afternoon, only to find themselves falling behind the deadline. To avoid getting overwhelmed, I recommend setting aside time each day to work on gathering documents —perhaps working on one category or account each day—since incremental progress is better than a rush to make a last-minute deadline. Additionally, there are some things to keep in mind when organizing your documents that not only help to expedite production, but also reduce overall legal expenses.

Much like accountants charge for the time it takes to organize a shoebox full of loose statements and receipts to prepare your taxes, attorneys charge accordingly for having to spend time organizing the documents you gather in order to review and turn over your mandatory disclosure. It may sound like common sense, but keeping statements for each particular category and account together in some chronological order goes a long way in cutting down on the time it takes to organize your documents for subsequent review and production. Mixing accounts or creating a stack in no particular order can take hours to reorganize, especially for someone who may be unfamiliar with the format of a particular institution's statements or other paperwork. While it's understandable when a client presents their attorney with a jumbled-up pile of documents while rushing to make the deadline—not to mention being overwhelmed by a legal problem they may not have foreseen—organized paperwork is much more friendly to the client's pocketbook. Additionally, providing your documentation in digital form is helpful since it cuts down on the time necessary to scan and organize your documents. If you choose to provide your documentation in digital format, here are a few tips that can save you time and money:

• Provide copies of your documents in PDF format.

• Avoid taking pictures of documents with your phone and providing JPEG or other similar digital photos of the documents. Not only will each page of the documents be a separate image file that will need to be converted to PDF and combine into a single document, but in some cases, it will be impossible to convert the images in a legible format resulting in the documents needing to be reproduced.

• Rename your documents instead of relying on the default file name created at the time of download. Many times, the generated file names are unhelpful, or don't reflect any information about the document.

• Keep in mind that every computer file system organizes file names alpha-numerically starting with numbers and then letters (i.e., 0 before 1, 1 before a, a before b, and so forth). To make chronological organization as efficient as possible, I recommend that file names begin with the format yyyy-mm-dd, especially when statements are spread over more than one calendar year.

• The file name should have some indication or what the file contains (e.g., 2021 Tax 1040 Return; ACME 401K Summary Plan Description; 2022-01-01 Bank of America Checking 1234) It is helpful for any documents with an account number to reflect the last four digits in the file name, particularly when you have multiple accounts with the same institution.

• Create one file per document. It is easier to organize if multiple files need to be converted to a single PDF.

• Make sure that any password protection is removed from the file prior to giving it to your attorney. This is particularly common with digital copies of tax returns.

• If you scan your own paper documents to digital format, make sure they are legible and try to save them in 81/2 x 11-page size.

Staying on top of your mandatory disclosure documentation goes a long way in moving forward in your divorce case. Not only does it avoid delays, but delinquent disclosure can result in additional motions—along with additional legal bills—and in certain cases can result in you getting sanctioned by the court. Sanctions can include the other party's legal fees being assessed against you, and in extreme cases could result in being held in contempt by the court or having your pleadings struck by the court, which could affect your legal claims such as alimony.  If you anticipate moving forward with a divorce, it would be wise to begin getting your records in order prior to filing your case. In general, it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep a copy of your important documents for your own records instead of relying on institutions online account access.  Even if you never find yourself in the midst of a legal action such as a divorce, it's better to have your own access to important records no matter what you may need them for.