MANDATORY DOCUMENTS REQUIRED BY THE COURT

In an effort to move divorce cases along and avoid long needless delays, most courts have created the Mandatory Document Exchange.  This is a court rule requiring upfront disclosure of much of the financial information in a divorce. This saves time and expense.  Opposing parties no longer have to go through the tedious and expensive process of Discovery just to get basic information that is readily available.  Generally, these documents need to be exchanged between the parties within 30 days of when the case is filed, though you should check the local court rules and the Missouri Statutes to be certain.

Gathering these documents can be a pain, I understand.  Know that they are required however, and you’ll save a lot of time and headache gathering these in advance of filing if you can to avoid the rush and the expense of the attorney reminding you of the requirement.  In fact, because to is required, if these documents are not provided, the other side had the right to bring a motion before the court demanding that you comply, and requesting fees for having to do so.  Hence, gather this up and it won’t be an issue.

List of Documents required in all cases:

1. Federal and state income tax returns including all schedules, W-2, K-1 and 1099 forms, for the preceding three years.
2. All wage stubs (or other evidence of wages, tips or salaries if wage stubs are not issued) for the three months preceding the filing of the case.
3. All documents evidencing expenses incurred in the 6 months preceding the filing of the case for work related child care costs and cost of dependent medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage attributable to the children of the parties.

Additional Document Exchange Requirements

In cases involving maintenance, child support, attorney fees, or division of debts and property, these additional documents are required under the Mandatory Document Exchange rules:

4. The three monthly statements immediately preceding the filing of the case for all financial accounts held by a party in his or her sole name or held jointly with any other person.
5. The three monthly or quarterly statements immediately preceding the filing of the case for any retirement plan, whether vested or not vested, in which a party has an interest.
6. Any appraisals of any marital or separate property that were conducted in the 12 months preceding the filing of the case.
7. The three monthly statements immediately preceding the filing of the case for all credit cards and store charge accounts for which a party is an authorized user or cardholder.
8. The most recent mortgage statement immediately preceding the filing of the case for any real property owned jointly or separately by a party and a copy of the deed for any such property
9. The most recent balance statement immediately preceding the filing of the case for any existing debt owned jointly or separately by the parties.