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By Edward L. Lederman, Denver

Remember when brevity was considered a virtue in the legal profession? What technology eroded that ethos? The Xerox machine? The computer? Or was it something more pervasive: the conviction that more is better, a legitimate, arguably necessary, aesthetic in any free, successful, capitalist society?

There is no more telling exemplar of the triumph of the more-is-better mentality in my profession than the six-page “Sworn Financial Statement” (financial affidavit) form promoted by our state Supreme Court as a condition precedent to getting divorced here in Colorado.

In Section (5), “Assets,” (H) “Miscellaneous Assets” we find among the 14 check-the-box prompts such items as “Frequent Flier Miles,” “Country Club & Other Memberships.” There is something almost voyeuristic about such detail. In addition to the 14 specific prompts are four “Other” prompts that are curious because, once you check the little box (this form you can access on the Web), you have precious little space to elaborate just what “Other” specific, precious, commodity resides in the marital estate. Oh well, the form refers you to yet another form: “JDF 1111-SS.”

I’ve been practicing in the divorce vineyards for 14 years. I have never seen a judge presiding at a contested hearing who welcomed that degree of specificity. As far as I am concerned a financial affidavit must disclose a party’s assets, income, expenses and debt. In many cases, such good-faith and functional disclosure requires less than a page, including the necessary notarized affirmation under penalty of perjury.

Speaking of the verification the client needs to sign at end of the financial affidavit, compare “I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge” (19 words) with the approximately 105-word verification on the Supreme Court’s form. Dave Barry would have a field day.

Don’t get me wrong, folks. I’m not saying that the financial affidavit is but a frivolous exercise in a tedious procedure precedent to Splitsville here in Colorado. Quite the opposite. A good-faith financial affidavit is the heart and soul of a fair and functional divorce. It is not only disclosure of facts but of position. What’s marital? What’s separate? What’s the valuation?

It can be one party’s succinct memorandum to the other of their position. It can serve as the blueprint for the trial management certificate (yet another vine in the vineyard). The form the state Supreme Court promulgates just gets in the way.

Aside from getting in the way, does the form say anything else about us, the profession? About us, the surrounding culture? Maybe all that it says is that none sitting on our state Supreme Court ever practiced much divorce law. In any event, it’s all billable.

Edward L. Lederman is a Denver attorney.

READER COMMENTS

Maybe, TM, you should have just stayed working, forgot about retribution, gotten healthy and then raised some happy children with good memories rather than an angry person who can't let go of a bad ex.

Right, pregnancy, labor, delivery compensation. What about his compensation for listening to a complainer that thinks she should be paid for staying at home AND for her "lost income". Can't imagine why someone wouldn't want you for a spouse.

Hi, Ed, Read your blog, but I'm writing you about my friend who has had custody of her grandson for years. (Alicia can tell you... or I'll e-mail you separately). She is in a dire situation now. She has spent tens of thousands to keep custody because the father has free legal advice in that he does not work, etc. He does however hang with meth makers and other baddies. If there is anyone out there who can help, please let me know. I'm afraid she will loose custody for lack of money. (At divorce, the mother gave up her rights to the grandma, but apparently the court does not care. ) It is a cruel system and the 9-year old boy is the one who will suffer the most. Thanks, ES

bjs,
Congratulations on having a good marriage! I agree with you that people need to be responsible for their decisions, which is why the unilateral divorce laws are so wrong. These laws penalize the innocent while protecting the guilty - not a goal most people are seeking when the marry.

All I can say is THANK GOD I married a great man and divorce is not on the horizon for either of us.

Should I be wrong, I certainly hope that my true friends and family will keep me from becoming so bitter, petty and hateful. I hope that I will remember that I am responsible for my decisions, both married and divorced, as well as their consequences, both married and divorced.

All I can say is THANK GOD I married a great man and divorce is not on the horizon for either of us.

Should I be wrong, I certainly hope that my true friends and family will keep me from becoming so bitter, petty and hateful. I hope that I will remember that I am responsible for my decisions, both married and divorced, as well as their consequences, both married and divorced.

Tenacious Mother,
You assume that the female partner does all the "unpaid" work around the house. Would your stance be the same if the wife was a lazy do little around the house person who's favorite activity was spending money she didn't have?

This column helps to clearly define the problem - marriage is the only legally enforceable form of prostitution. Signing the marriage "license" VOIDS any marital vow immediately as well as invoking those laws that incentive divorce. Was it really necessary for the Colorado legislature to award 40% of a working spouses income to a non-working spouse immediately upon separation and without consideration of ANY fact? The last mutual decision (legally) of a couple is to marry - everything after that, including divorce itself, is a unilateral decision. There is only one viable solution - exclude the state from your adult, consenting, relationships! Starve the Colorado divorce industry!

This is typical behavior on the part of attorney's, cry about having to do more work...
During my 12 yr marriage, I was a stay-at-home mom of two, while my husband worked in his own company...When it came down to the divorce, I was demonized by his attorney, he got the kids (he ended up giving them back), and I got nothing...Yet, when it came to assessing the amount of child support HE was obligated to, he lied about his income and is, to this day, allowed to get away with it...Why?...He's self-employed...The courts "take his word" on these so called "Financial Affidavits" without delving further by simply looking at his bank statements...
Not once has he been held accountable for lying on that "sworn affidavit", and I've even provided them proof...
In essence, it IS nothing but a worthless piece of paper, since it doesn't have any weight with the courts...
Too bad the "kids" have to suffer for it...

Making divorce tougher should be one element to consider in making people more considerate of what marriages they enter into. I suspect ease of exit correlates with ease of entry.

Divorce in Colorado, is more complicated and likely corrupted by the very judicial officers the people select to preside over them. In the 18th Judicial District, state law and the rules are subverted to the whims of the black-robed terrorists. I'd advise every man to think seriously about filing in another state, as Jim in Erie is regrettably correct, custody is determined as if the children were tumors removed from the mother, and their sole property. Abortion, and the (sole) woman's right to choose, brought us here. They can kill 'em, or they can bill 'em (fathers).
The fact that women still cannot cut it financially in this world, is the reason that financial disclosure is so important. Independent? Never. Liberated, when?
I say a 50/50 split would put those lyin/thieving lawyers outta work. Split the assets down the middle, split the parenting time 50/50, and there is no financial reward called child support, and thus, no arguement.
Women: get a job and claim your own paycheck, and then you can say that you're independent, otherwise, you should shut up and keep cleaning our homes and washing our clothes.

Wow....Tenacious Mother.....

You sound, and I'll admit that one post hardly tells the whole story, like a lovely person.

All full of righteous angst and legal standing.

As a divorced Father, who decided that the constant games the ex played with EVERYTHING, were not good for me or the children, I think that MY horror story, not yours, should be THE guide for breaking what is nothing more the a legal contract anymore. Not a marriage of two lives for a greater good, but just a damned financial arrangement, with billable everything, and decisions made according to nothing more then a formula for 'division of assets'.

And, of course, the awarding of 'custody' of the biological assets of the marriage should always be weighted toward that biological donor who happens to have their reproductive organs on the inside rather then the outside.

You, and lawyers like you are, in my humble opinion, exactly why so many divorced couples continue the fight that led to the divorce in the first place. You, and the law, have made starting a new life all but impossible.

Every time I read anything written about divorce, and its attendant costs, I think the following....

We, as a society, make it to damn easy to get married in the first place!

Unless the law has changed since I got married, the 'get hitched' requirements in Colorado are so simple that you don't even need anyone but the two parties involved! That is, once the county clerk has issued the license, you can (and we did) quite literally get legally married in the office where you got the paper! No witness is required (Ours was a Ricco photocopy machine!!), and it is just a binding as any full blown ceremony you've ever seen. No solemn pronouncements from some seasoned and wiser (?) member of the clergy. No need for a member of the legal profession to announce 'by the powers vested in me...'.

Many marriages are in trouble from day one, we've all seen them in person or splashed on the pages of papers and on television. Yet to get married takes far less 'work' then getting divorced, particularly so in "no fault' states.
Yet the paperwork, and exposure of the intimate details of your life, required to separate the things, property and monies involved in a marriage are not only daunting, they are invasive in a way that the NSA would love to have access to!! And much of the information you are required to divulge becomes a matter of public record!! Anyone with the time and interest can learn all manner of things about your life, and the net allows for some lovely and interesting publishing of them!!

And I've not even mentioned the dehumanizing nature of divorce decrees on any unfortunate children involved!

Make getting married tougher, with an eye toward trying to insure that the pending marriage isn't doomed to fail in the first place, and we might easily see less divorce.

A real step forward would be to include the labor rates for all of the unpaid services performed by the female partner from pre-marital wedding planning to home repairs to pregnancy, labor, delivery, unpaid child care and, a must would be her lost income during the marriage based on her level of education. That way, no one would need to concern themselves with the hidden financial minutia. Right, Mr. Lederman ? You would know as a practicing divorce attorney. I would know as a divorced mother (and attorney) who gave up her career and spends countless years in court chasing child support and health care reimbursements. BTW I did get the frequent flier miles ! I cashed them in for the children's use.

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