The Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure establish the guidelines and rules for the discovery process in any family law matter. The rules include what may or may not need to be disclosed, what remedies one can seek for discovery violations or protective orders, and some other niche issues which may come about in a family law case with regard to discovery. What they don’t tell you is how discovery helps, or harms, your case and how to find the devil in the details.
There are times in family law actions where we may see a litigant attempting to hide financial information, avoid disclosing how much their income truly is, and what the other side may, or may not, be entitled to of their shared assets. “Mandatory Financial Disclosure” is the initial discovery phase in any family law action. Often, what is disclosed throughout that process can lead us to finding additional information we may need moving forward that otherwise would not have been known. The devil is often in the details of the initial disclosures, such as bank statements which indicate a single, or multiple, transactions to another, undisclosed, account, frivolous spending which is detailed through a credit card statements and exposes the inaccuracies in what is claimed to be “shared” debt, credit inquiries which indicate reasonable inferences into past or future plans, charges for vacations, gifts, and trips that drained marital accounts without the other spouse’s knowledge, substance and dependency issues reflected through transactions which may put children at risk, and more.
While this is a short introduction to the devil being in the details, it can be quite detailed, lengthy, and involved. As a result, it is important to have educated and well‑versed counsel to guide you. The Rice Law Firm has handled family law actions and their discovery process since 1986. Contact us today at our Daytona Beach location at 386‑310‑2914
