Financial Disclosure: Fishing Expeditions

When spouses decide to cut ties and sever their relationship, once each party has retained a lawyer to represent them on their behalf, the lawyers will exchange financial statements that their clients have prepared, and attempt to reach a settlement.

Often, one of the parties is reluctant to disclose how much they are currently spending and/or what they are purchasing with that money.

On a motion for disclosure, the applicant will usually succeed in terms of requesting information regarding the quantum of the expenses, as this is a relevant factor in determining issues such as spousal and child support. However, if the applicant attempts to get their hands on financial statements (i.e. credit card statements) so as to reveal what their former spouse has been spending his/her money on, the court will analyze whether the request is relevant to the fact-finding process or merely a fishing expedition.

In the case of Pilkington v. Barrack, Justice Stevenson explained:

" . . .  A party's understandable aspiration for the outmost disclosure is not the standard. Fairness and some degree of genuine relevance, which is the ability of the evidence to contribute to the fact finding process are factors . . . The dollar amounts are sufficient. Nothing is to be gained by the disclosure of line by line details of the Respondent's spending and I accept the Respondent's argument that this request really amounts to a fishing expedition. The totals alone will afford the Applicant an opportunity to challenge the Respondent's income and to ascertain whether he has been truthful regarding his income."

To learn more about financial disclosure as well as the services provided by Krol & Krol, call 905.707.3370 today.