Financial Statements

Financial Statements

Rule 13 of the Family Law Rules deals exclusively with financial statements and financial disclosure. You must usually complete, serve and file a financial statement if your case involves:

• Child support claims;

• Spousal support claims;

• Claims relating to property or debts

There are two different types of financial statements:

• Form 13: Financial Statement (Support Claims): if your case involves child or spousal support, but not property issues.

• Form 13.1: Financial Statement (Property and Support Claims): if your case involves claims regarding property or debts, whether or not support issues are involved.

Your financial statement must be served on the other party and then filed with the court:

• With the documents that contain your claim (for example, your application or motion), if you are making a support or property claim, or

• Within the time for serving and filing your responding documents (for example, your answer, reply, or affidavit in response to a motion), if you are responding to the other party’s support or property claim.

A financial statement includes information about your income, expenses, assets and debts. This essentially constitutes your financial disclosure. It is imperative for you to be completely honest when providing such disclosure and any supporting documents.

If your case involves child or spousal support (regardless of whether or not there are property issues), the following documents must be provided to the other party:

• Proof of your current income (for example, your most recent pay stub or social assistance statement)

• A copy of your personal income tax returns for the past three years;

• A copy of your Notices of Assessment and any Notices of Reassessment for the past three years;

• If you are self-employed:

-   A copy of your financial statements for your business or professional practice for each of the past three years;

-   A statement showing a breakdown of all salaries, wages and other benefits paid to others for the past three years

• Proof of any income from a partnership, corporation, or trust for the past three years​

• Proof of any income received from employment insurance, social insurance, a pension, workers compensation, disability payments, or any other income source for the past three years

• If you’ve been unemployed within the past three years:

-   A copy of your Record of Employment or other proof that your job ended, and

-   A statement of any income or benefits that you have received or will receive from your former employer

• If you’re asking that the other party contribute to a child’s special or extraordinary expenses, proof of the amount of those expenses

At any stage in your case, if you realize that a financial document that you served or filed is incorrect, incomplete or outdated, you must serve an amended or updated document on the other party and file it with the court.

Filling out a financial statement can be quite challenging. However, it is usually a required document for any court proceedings.  We encourage you to contact our very experienced lawyers at Gottlieb Law Firm to provide you with the appropriate assistance to guide you through this complex process and to ensure the financial records you seek from the other side also comply with the disclosure obligations.

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A financial statement and proper financial disclosure are key elements to a successful support and property claim. Don’t get caught with a poorly drafted financial statement or by lack of proper guidance on how to properly analyze one. Your property and support claims depend on expert analysis and input.

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For more information contact Gottlieb Family Law located in the Greater Toronto Area,

call us at (416) 227-1653 or send us an email at: ggottlieb@gottlieblawfirm.com