# Pro Se Divorce Property Settlement Agreement / Sharing Financial Information



## Divorcing1 (May 21, 2019)

We are doing our divorce without attorneys. We have been slowly working out a Marital Settlement agreement. We finally completed the details verbally, it's been reduced to writing in an agreement, the agreement was sent to my soon to be ex several weeks ago and communication has stalled.

I inquired and my ex says just hasn't gotten to it yet.

Last week again I inquired and now spouse needs copies of all financial statements (investments, retirement benefit statements, etc) All of the names of institutions, account numbers and agreed percentage split is included in the agreement.

Do I need to provide copies of statements at this time? My spouse claims that they need to go over with a "financial person". Why would this delay moving forward on the settlement agreement?

We've been separated and living apart for several years.
Married 20+ years
I reside in the marital home
no minor children


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## Livvie (Jan 20, 2014)

You are overtly asking for actual legal advice, and no one but an attorney is qualified to give it to you.


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## Trident (May 23, 2018)

If you were doing the divorce the contested route via attorneys and courts you'd be required to submit all financial documentation for every account.

Your spouse is not asking for anything unreasonable, if you refuse then you might end up going the contested route- see my sentence above. Perhaps he or she is suspicious that you're not disclosing everything?

Shouldn't be too difficult to print off the statements as they're readily available online or if you're doing it the old fashioned way scan them in or photograph them with your phone and send them over. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes. What's your objection?

Edited to add- whether you settle your divorce amicably via Stipulation and settlement versus contested divorce with a judge ordering the split of assets, if you fail to disclose marital assets and it's discovered later on then you could end up paying for it big time.


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## attheend02 (Jan 8, 2019)

I bet that YOU are doing your divorce without an Attorney
It sounds to me that he is lawyering up.

You should probably do the same.


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## Trident (May 23, 2018)

It could also be that his soon to be ex spouse is meeting with a new financial advisor who has requested this information.

Based on the Ops past posts that go back 1.5 years as they've worked through an almost completed mutually agreeable separation agreement there is no reason to suggest that she suddenly lawyers up and he should do the same, especially if it's a relatively simple matter of asset division. All that attorneys will do is create and escalate conflict without doing much to resolve the situation until thousands of legal fees are paid by both sides.


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## Hiner112 (Nov 17, 2019)

All of the financial documents for both people should be available to everyone involved _unless_ you already have separated finances and are agreeing to keep everything the way it is. For the standard fair settlement you would add up the marriage's total assets and liabilities and divide by two to figure out what each person's "fair share" is and then divide the assets accordingly. To do that totaling up, you need all of the financial information. You print yours, they print theirs, and you sit in front of Excel or a sheet of paper and add them up together would probably be the best way. There can be some shortcuts like disregard cars if each has their own or disregard 401k valuations if they are comparable in value. Sometimes not everyone is acting in good faith or like an adult and then you need a chaperone (mediator) or two (lawyers for each) but that tends to eat up the amount you eventually divide at the bottom.


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## Prodigal (Feb 5, 2011)

Trident said:


> ... there is no reason to suggest that she suddenly lawyers up and he should do the same, especially if it's a relatively simple matter of asset division.


Sounds like it just got a bit more complicated.


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## happyhusband0005 (May 4, 2018)

Divorcing1 said:


> We are doing our divorce without attorneys. We have been slowly working out a Marital Settlement agreement. We finally completed the details verbally, it's been reduced to writing in an agreement, the agreement was sent to my soon to be ex several weeks ago and communication has stalled.
> 
> I inquired and my ex says just hasn't gotten to it yet.
> 
> ...


I'm not a lawyer but I think you should provide the statements. If you're not hiding anything then just keep the peace and avoid lawyers by providing the statements.


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