It is important to know that both parents have a legal obligation to support their children financially after Separation or Divorce. Children have a legal right to that support. By Law, it is your duty to disclose your financial information.
As you should be aware, you are required to complete a Form 13 – Financial Statement (or Form 13.1 Financial Statement if the property is an issue in your matter). The Financial Statement is where you set out your financial information at the date of marriage/cohabitation, date of separation and the present date.
The Financial Statement includes information about your income, expenses, assets and debts. To ensure your Financial Statement is accurate, the Courts require you to provide financial disclosure with your Financial Statement. The Courts want to ensure that the parties are sharing complete and honest information in order to calculate support and divide property properly. Typically, the Courts require you to attach your three most recent pay stubs and past three years’ Notice of Assessments to your Financial Statement.
Some other financial documents that you may need to provide to your spouse include:
- proof of income from all sources
- copies of your past three years’ income tax returns
- copies of your past three years’ Notice of Assessments
- bank statements
- credit card statements
- mortgage documents
- line of credit statements
- money owed to you
- business interests
The Certificate of Financial Disclosure
The above financial disclosure may be listed in Form 13A – Certificate of Financial Disclosure.
You must remember that you are required to provide your spouse with updated financial disclosure during your Family Law matter. If you do not respect that obligation, the Court can, for example:
- make an Order that the income be provided (disclosure Order);
- assume that the parent’s income is a certain amount for child support purposes and make an Order based on that income (impute income);
- Order the parent to pay retroactive child support
- require a parent to pay the legal costs of the other parent;
- find the parent in contempt of Court
Steps to Complete a Certificate of Financial Disclosure
There are two different types of financial disclosure certificates Form 13 for support claims and Form 13.1 for property and support claims.
When filling out the forms it’s important to pay attention to the timing of the information being requested. It is often set from a specific time period. Walk through the form with your lawyer to ensure all information is filled in correctly.
Form 13 covers child support and spousal support while form 13.1 involves claims on property or debt.
Printable Certificate of Financial Disclosure from the Ontario Government website.
Once completed you are required to serve the other party a copy of your Financial Statement and the Certificate of Financial Disclosure as well as all attached supporting documents. You are also required to complete Form 6B: Affidavit of Service to prove that you have served the proper forms to the other party. Then send all copies to the courthouse for filing.
If you would like to speak with one of our lawyers regarding further issues related to this topic please contact us at (416) 840-1475 or schedule your free initial consultation here.
