Let’s continue on about the Seattle Divorce Process.
In part 1 we talked about filing for your Seattle Divorce and what’s involved up and through your attorney sending out written interrogatories or even actually issuing a subpoena for the financial information.
What happens if your spouse refuses to respond or they haven’t disclosed all there is to disclose about their financial informaion?
Well, there is a third way your attorney can use to get these answers. It is called a Deposition.
A depostion is when the lawyers of the parties sit down with a court reporter who’s got a steno machine and all kinds of equipment, and he or she sits down at the end of the table, and then your lawyer sits across from your spouse and asks questions, and those questions have to be answered under oath, because the court reporter swears the witness in at the beginning of the session.
In addition to taking a deposition of the opposing party (your spouse), at this time your Seattle Divorce Attorney or Seattle Family Law Attorney may also take a deposition of any witnesses, or any experts that have been hired, such as a forensic accountant who has been hired by your spouse to review their tax records or do business valuation of their business – obviously this varies case by case depending on how complicated the financial implications of your Seattle Divorce may be.
So, in review, you have 3 ways to get the financial information (and any other information) you may need to enable the court to make their decisions about your Seattle Divorce.
Other things you should be aware of. If you have children you may need to go through what is called a Parental Evaluation, where you are interviewed on behalf of the court. Typically, mental health professionals are utilized for this and based on their interviews help the court determine how the children in the divorce should be handled. The courts ALWAYS make their decisions with the child foremost in mind. What is best for the child? That is the determining factor. So the parenting evaluation helps the courts decide what the custodial arrangement should be at the end of your divorce.
Once all this information is gathered, you typically have the option of choosing to go through Divorce Mediation. It is a way to keep all the details of your Seattle Divorce from being aired in public. This can also be called arbitration, or an alternative dispute resolution. To make it simple for you, basically Seattle Divorce Mediation means settling your Seattle Divorce out of court, with the assistance of a Divorce Mediator. Should the Mediation fail, in all probability, you will end up in Seattle Divorce Court for an actual divorce proceeding or Trial.
And this is where you leave everything up to a Judge to make all the final decisions about your Seattle Divorce.
Since you and your spouse couldn’t reach agreement, it will be the judge who has final say on who gets what property, who gets what assets, who gets custody of the children, who pays what to who, who awards any child support or alimony, etc.
He will then issue his final divorce paperwork, which becomes a court order. And once a court order is issued, they are virtually impossible to change. The judge’s word is law, so be it.
This is why it is so important, regardless of how much you wish your Seattle Divorce is over, to take your time, make sure everything you do is accurate. Make sure you have all the financial records. This is time to pay attention to the details of your Seattle Divorce, bacause your future, and the future of your kids, depends on the results you get from your Seattle Divorce.
Seattle & Bellevue Family Law Attorneys and Seattle & Bellevue Divorce Attorneys
Two offices serving Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Mercer Island
Seattle Office:
DuBois Cary Law Group, PLLC
927 N. Northlake Way
Suite 210
Seattle WA 98103
Phone: (206) 547-1486
Bellevue Office:
DuBois Cary Law Group
1400 112th Ave. SE
Suite 100
Bellevue, WA 98004
Phone: (425) 279-7863
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