Imagine receiving all of your financial records in divorce, which includes years’ worth of bank statement. This includes tax returns, credit cards or brokerage reports, payment statements, and various other business financial documents.
You now have the information.
You might still be unable to get answers.
Financial records may not always be readily available, however this doesn’t make matrimonial problems more complicated. Sometimes the challenge is determining which documents answer the questions that actually matter and being aware of the crucial elements that remain unaccounted for.
Begin with the question and not the spreadsheet.
Financial discovery can be handled differently by a forensic accountant in New Jersey than someone who simply organizes documents.
Imagine that the dispute has funds that are available for support. A tax return review can be helpful, but the business owner or highly compensated professional could be able to receive funds through a variety of channels. Salary and bonuses can be a challenge to assess according to your particular circumstances.
If there are any assets that may be hiding, it’s important to keep track of them. Banking activity, transfer patterns or spending patterns as well as movement between accounts are factors that will help you build an overall financial picture.
It’s not about accumulating every document you can think of. It’s to collect the information necessary to answer specific financial questions.
The Discovery Process is altered by the ownership of a business
The matrimonial research process can be improved through an independent company.
Performing business valuation for divorce in New Jersey requires appropriate financial information about the company. An expert may be required to supply historical financial data, tax information along with ownership records and other documentation pertinent to the agreement.
Troubles can result from insufficient information.
For example, if you only look at revenue and ignore expenses, it is not possible to know the whole story of a company’s finances. Examining a single performance year can be a mistake.
SJS Forensics assists counsel by finding relevant documents, assisting make specific requests for discovery, and reviewing materials produced for the accuracy and completeness of the documents.
The existence of financial variances does not necessarily mean that there is something buried
Divorce is a difficult and emotional process, and any unreliable transaction could quickly generate suspicion.
It’s not always clear where a transfer has been made. A large amount of money could have a common explanation. In contrast, a seemingly mundane series of transactions could be worthy of closer examination when taken in combination.
The objective assessment is important since forensic accounting can’t start by concluding that there has been a breach of the law.
The analysis should start with the documents.
Mediation can be more productive with better information
Financial experts typically are used in courtroom testimony however they could be beneficial much earlier. Making clear the issues at issue prior to mediation is beneficial when parties do not agree on the business value or income, separate property or unusual financial activities.
SJS Forensics is a forensic accounting firm that brings together experience in forensic accounting and a settlement-oriented mindset. They also take part in mediations for financial matters.
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 eliminate the unknowns
A complicated divorce can contain many financial transactions that were accumulated over many years. Financial clarity isn’t achieved just by putting documents in folders. The documents must be analyzed to determine what they reveal as well as what remains unanswered or if additional information might be needed.
This is the real value of the forensic financial analysis. It’s not about making divorce more complicated by producing another enormous stack of papers. It’s to take a complicated financial situation and steadily reduce the number of questions unanswered.