2006 Divorce Financial Statement Form Simplified!first posted on: 3/2/2006
On February 9, 2006, the Colorado
Supreme Court adopted further changes to several of the
standard forms required in all Colorado divorce, legal
separation, parentage and most other family law matters
(including modification of child support cases).
In a formal Corrective Order, Colorado's highest Court
substituted a new, streamlined and abbreviated form
of financial disclosure statement. A new “Sworn
Financial Statement” replaces the cornerstone disclosure
tool known for many years (and in many different versions)
as the domestic relations “Affidavit With Respect to Financial Affairs”
(and referred to here for simplicity as “the former
Financial Affidavit” ). The New Colorado Divorce Forms: Sworn
Financial Statement and Supporting Schedules
 Adopted and required for use effective March 1, 2006, the Court-approved new
Colorado Sworn Financial Statement is a six page form, consisting of
five sections. These require each party in divorce, legal separation, parentage or family law
proceedings to detail their:
-
monthly income,
-
monthly deductions,
- monthly expenses,
- debts, and
- assets.
If either party additionally has
-
stocks, bonds, mutual funds, securities
or investment accounts,
-
pension, profit sharing or other
retirement funds (including defined contribution or defined
benefit retirement plans), or
- “separate property” — typically, property acquired prior to the
marriage or by gift or inheritance,
a second (one-page) attachment is
also required to be filed. Formally titled the “Supporting
Schedules for Assets” (and often just referred to as
the “Supporting Schedules”), this new and also
abbreviated form discloses these investment, retirement
and separate property items as well as
details other miscellaneous
assets.
What's the Big Deal? How Does the
New Colorado Sworn Financial Statement Form Differ from the
Old Financial Affidavit?
 The new Colorado Sworn Financial
Statement acknowledges that, for most family law cases, the much more comprehensive,
earlier version of Financial Affidavit required as part of
the
many changes in Colorado divorce law and process on January
1, 2005 was burdensome to complete and a failed
experiment. The former Financial Affidavit consisted of
fourteen pages and its complexity had given it the nickname
“the Big Bear!”
The sweeping approach embraced by the
former
Financial Affidavit was well-intended. However, many Colorado
divorce attorneys and judges were appalled by the expensive
process of “discovery” in which enormous time and resources were
expended by parties
and their counsel in simply finding out the other’s income, assets and debts.
The former Financial Affidavit sought to require a systematic
and thorough reckoning adequate for even the most
sophisticated and contested of divorces.
In the end, the detail revealed and
savings effected by the former Financial Affidavit for the
parties in complex divorce and family law cases was
outweighed in most cases by the time required of Colorado
courts and divorcing parties (and for unrepresented parties,
the confusion generated) in managing and completing this earlier form.
The Colorado Divorce Sworn Financial Statement - Uniform Use,
Grace Period
The Colorado Supreme Court Order
directs the uniform use of the new Sworn Financial Statement
in all family law cases, including those involving
modification of spousal maintenance and child support
orders. As a result of these 2006 changes in Colorado law,
a popular, copyrighted special “short form” of Financial
Affidavit for Colorado child support modification cases
(offered by Bradford Publishing Company, a Colorado legal
publisher offering divorce forms for electronic download)
has been discontinued.
The former Financial Affidavit can be used
during a grace period extending until August 1, 2006. This
form — in its so-called “interactive” fillable Word® version
allowing for easier data entry, and in its fillable Adobe®
version — includes built-in math calculations and should be
reviewed and may be favored if your case involves
sophisticated assets or complex financial aspects. (Review
our articles on the advantages of these
predecessor forms of Colorado Financial Affidavit and tips on
using the Adobe version of this Financial Affidavit.)
Mediation and the New Colorado Divorce
Sworn Financial Statement
As with other forms required to complete your Colorado divorce, mediation facilitates discussion regarding, and often eases the task of gathering, exchanging and understanding, the information required to complete this important disclosure tool. For most couples in mediation, the new
Colorado divorce Sworn Financial Statement will be welcomed. The requirement of meaningful disclosure is now a much more
manageable task.
Also, see our “Spotlight”
or other feature articles, where we discuss in detail other Colorado legal, procedural (including
divorce law and family mediation) or parenting topics. Presently, we look in
depth at:
An additional highly recommended
resource for Colorado divorce law information is
Colorado Springs, Colorado
family lawyer Carl Graham's Colorado Divorce and
Family Law Guide.
Return to home, or for other
news articles on Colorado divorce law and Colorado mediation issues, return to the index to our site's Colorado divorce law information and mediation news
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Here,
at “The Latest!,” you’ll find the latest news and
information regarding Colorado divorce law
and other Colorado divorce information or topics of interest
to parties considering mediation of their Colorado divorce.
Learn about
the new Colorado Mediation Association or “theMAC” in
our article
Finally, consider articles regarding changes at our office
in 2006 (the substitution of old-style flip-charts with
