Imagine receiving all of your financial documents during divorce, and that includes years of bank statements. These include taxes, credit cards and brokerage reports, as well as payroll statements, as well as other business financial records.
You have now the information.
There may be a limited number of practical options.
Matrimonial disputes aren’t necessarily difficult since financial records are unavailable. The problem lies when you need to find the documents that answer the most important questions and when they’re missing.
Begin with the question, Not the Spreadsheet
Financial discovery might be handled differently by a forensic accountant in New Jersey than someone who is simply organizing documents.
When the issue is about income available for support. The review of tax returns can be helpful, but a business owner or highly compensated professional might receive cash through various channels. Compensation and bonuses can be difficult to determine dependent on the circumstances of the individual.
If there’s a concern about assets that may not be reported, different records could be relevant. Transfers, bank activity, expenditure patterns, and the movement between accounts could help create a more complete financial picture.
The goal isn’t to gather every document you can think of. The goal is to collect the required documents needed to answer certain financial questions.
Business Ownership Modifies the Discovery Process
The matrimonial research process can be improved by a private company.
For New Jersey divorce business valuation companies must be able to provide the relevant financial data. A valuation expert might need the historical financial statements, tax records, ownership information and other documents depending on the type of engagement.
Uncompleted information can create problems.
If you focus solely on the revenue of your company and do not take into account expenses, this is only one part of the financial picture. A single year’s worth of data may not show whether performance is typical or unique.
SJS Forensics assists counsel by providing relevant documents, aiding make specific requests for discovery, and reviewing materials produced for completeness and accuracy.
Even if a financial difference is small however, that does not mean that something was hidden.
Unknown transactions may raise suspicions in divorce proceedings because they’re emotionally charged.
The destination of a transfer may not be known until the documents are examined. Large withdrawals that are unexpectedly large could have a normal explanation. On the other hand, a routine set of transactions may be worth closer inspection when taken in combination.
It is vital to conduct an objective analysis, because forensic accounting cannot begin by assuming that there’s an error.
Records should be the starting stage for analysis.
Mediation is more efficient with better information
Financial experts often appear in courtrooms, however their analysis can be done much earlier. Making clear the issues at issue prior to mediation is beneficial when parties do not agree on the business value or income distinct property, or other unusual financial activities.
SJS Forensics is a forensic accounting firm that combines expertise in forensic accounting with a settlement-minded attitude. They can also participate in mediation for more complex financial problems.
When testimony is necessary, an expert witness accountant for matrimonial litigation must be able to take the underlying analysis and explain it clearly to attorneys, mediators, judges, and other non-accountants.
The Goal Is to Reduce the Unknowns
A complicated divorce may contain hundreds of financial transactions that have been accumulated over time. The process of achieving financial clarity cannot be accomplished by simply putting records in folders. The documents need to be reviewed for what they indicate, what is still unanswered, or if additional information might be needed.
That’s the practical value of the forensic analysis of finances. Our goal isn’t to make divorce more difficult by generating a massive pile of papers. It’s to take a complicated financial position and slowly decrease the number of unanswered questions.