The starting point in every divorce case is the mandatory Financial Affidavit.  A seasoned divorce attorney will dissect the financial affidavit and use it as a roadmap for further discovery.

The most common tools of discovery used in contested dissolution actions are interrogatories and depositions.  Interrogatories are written questions submitted by a party for the opposing party to answer under oath, as the answer must be notarized. Florida Statutes require “mandatory disclosure” which includes initial interrogatories, plus additional interrogatories may be sent.

Depositions are a series of questions asked of a party live, in the presence of a court reporter who transcribes everything being asked and answered.  Depositions are also under oath.

Discovery in divorce cases centers primarily around the parties’ finances.  Each party has the right to know everything about the other’s assets, financial holdings and income from any source.  In many cases this can be tricky because one spouse may have an economic interest in concealing assets or income.  Proving income, for example, is very difficult when a spouse is self-employed.  By controlling his own financial records, a spouse can very easily hide income.  In extreme cases, a forensic accountant may be employed to locate missing assets or income.