Imagine having years of financial documents, like bank statements, tax records and credit card statements. Payroll reports and brokerage statements.
Now you have technical information.
It’s possible you’re unable to locate the answers you need.
Financial records may not be always available, but this shouldn’t make matrimonial issues more complex. Sometimes the issue is deciphering which documents answer the questions that are important and knowing when crucial pieces aren’t yet available.
Start with the question, not the spreadsheet.
A forensic accountant for white collar defense may approach financial discovery differently from someone simply organizing documents.
If the dispute involves money available for assistance. Reviewing a tax return can be helpful, but a business owner or highly compensated professional may be able to receive funds through a variety of channels. Compensation, bonuses, salaries and other types of compensation might require more examination based on the situation.
If there’s a concern regarding assets that might not have been disclosed, then different records could be relevant. Banking activity, transfers and spending patterns can be analyzed to provide a complete financial picture.
It’s not about gathering every piece of paper you can imagine. The objective is to collect the required documents needed to answer certain financial questions.
The Discovery Process is altered by the ownership of a business
A privately-owned company could give a new dimension to matrimony discovery.
Performing business valuation for divorce in New Jersey requires appropriate financial information regarding the business. An expert might require historical financial data, tax information along with ownership records and other relevant documentation depending on the engagement.
Incomplete information may cause issues.
If, for instance, you only look at revenues and leave out expenses, it is not possible to know the complete story of the company’s financials. A single year’s results may not be a good indicator of the company’s usual or extraordinary performance.
SJS Forensics provides assistance to counsel by identifying relevant documents to the preparation of a specific discovery request and scrutinizing the documents to ensure precision and completeness.
If a gap in your financial balance is small is not a sign that something was concealed.
The divorce process is an emotional process, and a transaction that is unfamiliar can raise suspicions.
It’s not always easy to determine what the reason for a transfer made. A large withdrawal could have an ordinary reason. In contrast, a seemingly normal sequence of transactions may warrant an examination closer when taken together.
It is vital to conduct an objective analysis, because forensic accounting cannot start by assuming that there has been a breach of the law.
The documentation should be the basis for analysis.
Improved Information Could Make Mediation more efficient
Financial experts typically appear in courtrooms, but their analysis can be done much earlier. When parties disagree about business value, income, separate property, or any other financial activity that is unusual, clarifying those issues before mediation can help determine the issues that are actually being debated.
SJS Forensics combines forensic accounting expertise with a settlement-oriented mindset and can participate in mediation to address complex financial questions.
A specialist witness accountant involved in matrimonial cases should be able, when necessary, to explain the analysis to mediators, lawyers and judges, as well other non-accountants.
The aim is to reduce the mystery
A complicated divorce may contain hundreds of financial transactions that have been accumulated over the course of many years. This doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to get financial clarity by simply making the necessary records. It’s up to the individual to decide which records are required, which questions remain unanswered and the information needed to be added.
That’s the benefit of an forensic analysis of financials. We don’t want to make divorces more difficult through the creation of a large pile of paperwork. The objective is to minimize the amount of financial questions that remain unanswered when dealing with a complex case.