Mandated Disclosures in a Colorado Divorce | Episode 11

Welcome back to Divorce at Altitude, a Podcast on Colorado Family Law. In this episode, Ryan Kalamaya takes us through the important next steps after filing for divorce in Colorado, particularly focusing on the initial status conference and initial disclosures.

Episode Highlights

Initial Status Conference and Timelines:
• After filing, the court schedules an initial status conference within 6 to 8 weeks.
• Initial disclosures begin, including the sworn financial statement that outlines your income, expenses, assets, and debts.

What Needs to Be Disclosed:
• Essential documents under Rule 16.2 include the last three years of tax returns, credit card statements, bank statements, business financial reports, and employment benefits.
• Form 35.1 ensures all necessary documents are disclosed, and a certificate of compliance is filed with the court confirming the disclosures.

Why Full Disclosure is Critical:
• The fiduciary duty between both parties requires full transparency.
• More disclosure is better to avoid costly discovery disputes.
• Anything material to the divorce, like text messages, pictures, or recordings, must be disclosed, even if not specifically requested by the other party.

Key Takeaways:
• Timely Disclosure: Initial disclosures should be made in a timely manner to avoid delays.
• Transparency: Full transparency is a fiduciary duty, and over-disclosure helps prevent costly fights over discovery.
• Clear Documentation: Use tools like Bates labeling to track documents efficiently and ensure clarity in communication.

📞 Connect with Us
Facebook: Kalamaya | Goscha
LinkedIn: Kalamaya | Goscha
Phone: 970.315.2365
Email: info@kalamaya.law

What is Divorce at Altitude?

Ryan Kalamaya and Amy Goscha provide tips and recommendations on issues related to divorce, separation, and co-parenting in Colorado. Ryan and Amy are the founding partners of an innovative and ambitious law firm, Kalamaya | Goscha, that pushes the boundaries to discover new frontiers in family law, personal injuries, and criminal defense in Colorado.

To subscribe to Divorce at Altitude, click here and select your favorite podcast player. To subscribe to Kalamaya | Goscha's YouTube channel where many of the episodes will be posted as videos, click here. If you have additional questions or would like to speak to one of our attorneys, give us a call at 970-429-5784 or email us at info@kalamaya.law.

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS ON THIS PODCAST IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL ADVICE. CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE OR AREA TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE ON ANY OF THESE ISSUES.

Transcript

0 (1s):
Welcome to Divorce at Altitude, A Podcast on Colorado Family Law. I'm Ryan Kalamaya each week, along with my business partner and cohost Amy Goscha or an expert, we discuss a particular topic related divorce, or co-parenting in Colorado. In addition, we have created a short series of lessons that will take you through the legal process of divorce and answer your questions from simple to complex Divorce. Isn't easy. The end of a marriage, especially when children are involved, brings a great deal of loss and change. We hope these practical tips and insights will help you on your journey to a new and better life.

1 (43s):
We've covered how to file for divorce and the automatic injunction. What else do you need to know at this phase in the divorce process here in Colorado? Well, there's going to be an initial status conference scheduled with the court. Generally that takes between six and eight weeks after you file for divorce during that time and initial disclosures are being worked on and under rule 16.2, those initial disclosures are going to entail the sworn financial statement, which is essentially a summary of your income expenses, assets, and debts that needs to be filed with a court. It's a judicial form. A lot of divorce lawyers such as us will use a software program to go through this warm financial statement and produce it.

1 (1m 29s):
Then the second thing that you should understand that on the initial disclosures is that there are, there's a form 35.1 that lays out at a minimum what disclosures need to be made. That's going to be the last three years tax returns, financial reports, profit loss statements, balance sheets from a business. If a business is involved, credit card statements, bank statements, most recent of those, and he sort of employment benefits. Those all need to be disclosed to the other party and there's, what's called a certificate of compliance. And so that is filed with the core and it checks off that you've disclosed these particular documents. You don't actually file with the court, your credit card statements and your tax returns, but you need to provide that to the other party.

1 (2m 14s):
And it's important that you have a record of what is the issued or disclosed for divorce lawyers. We oftentimes will. We'll do what's called Bates labeling. And that will be a label in a number on the bottom of the page that ensures that if we're talking about particular document, the August, 2019 bank statements that has, you know, a particular transaction that we can be assured that we're talking about the right statement by referencing the number that is the page number that is involved. The other thing that is important to understand is that rule 16.2 lays out the minimum that one needs to be providing to the other party. Generally speaking, anything that is material to the resolution of the disputes involved needs to be disclosed to the other party, without them even asking for that.

1 (3m 3s):
And that can entail text messages, pictures, voicemails, recordings, and it depends on the core and the circumstance and whether or not you actually have to disclose that ahead of time. The general rule of thumb within our law firm is that disclosure of more is better because discovery fights can oftentimes increase fees dramatically. And the overarching rule or the theory behind rule 16.2 is that both parties owe a duty of a fiduciary duty to one another to be fully transparent and to disclose without asking or the other party.

0 (3m 41s):
Thanks for listening or watching this short lesson on the Divorce at Altitude podcast. If you found this helpful, please leave a review or share with a friend. It does help for others that are going through or thinking about a divorce in Colorado. If you want to find out more information, please visit Kalamaya dot law or Divorce at Altitude dot com. And that's K a L a M a Y a.law. Remember, this is educational information and it's not intended to be legal advice. Please consult with an attorney about the particulars of your case. We're happy to answer questions. Feel free to give us a call at (970) 315-2365.