Risa A. Kleiner, Esq.

July 27, 2010

Every divorce participant eventually hears the letters C-I-S.  The letter stand for the words “Case Information Statement.”  This is a lengthy financial disclosure document which is required by the court in every litigated divorce.  When completed (by you, the litigant), the CIS will provide details of your family income, expenses, assets and debts.  And, it will be signed by you over a statement in which you certify to the truth and accuracy of the information that you have provided.

Is the CIS important? 

The short answer is “yes.”  The CIS gives an overview of the “marital lifestyle” and is the basis for determining alimony, child support and distribution of assets and debts.  If the information is incomplete or inaccurate, one or both parties may wind up with less than their appropriate share of the assets and less or more support than is appropriate.

Do you have to prepare a CIS if you proceed through a Collaborative Divorce or if your case is mediated?  W

hile the court may not require that a CIS be filed when the issues are settled before the Complaint for Divorce is filed, the lack of a CIS can be very detrimental to any future modifications of support.  If there is no document to reflect the marital lifestyle at the time of the divorce, providing support for upward or downward modifications of support in the future can be extremely difficult.  The original CIS and an updated CIS are required by the court, should the parties be unable to agree on them in some form of ADR (Alternate Dispute Resolution – e.g. mediation or collaborative divorce).

Bottom line:  it’s worth it to spend the time to prepare an accurate and complete CIS at the onset of any divorce.  In the long run, it will save time, money and aggravation — and possibly save you from an unjust outcome.

For more information, contact our office at 609.951.2222 or email to Risa@rkleinerlaw.com

July 14, 2010

Recently, the Appellate Division turned down an appellant’s request to overturn a trial court order dismissing his request to reduce his support obligations.  The reason?  He framed his request badly – put it in his Certification instead of in his Notice of Motion.  Didn’t provide adequate documentation.  He was Pro se – how was he to know?  Too bad, said the court.  If you want to ask the court for help, you’d better submit everything in proper form and provide all appropriate supporting documents.

This is not intended as a criticism of an overburdened court.  Courts have rules for a reason and if lawyers have to follow the rules, so do litigants who are unrepresented by counsel.  But compare this process to mediation or collaborative law where requests for information are made informally and the parties are given an adequate opportunity to submit their supporting materials and discuss their positions.  

The litigant in the recent case might not prevail in mediation or in a collaborative divorce, but the emphasis would be where it belongs — on the substance of his request.   Support reductions, like the original establishment of support obligations, can be effectively mediated or resolved through the collaborative divorce process.  And everyone has the opportunity to be heard.

Contact Risa A. Kleiner, Esq. at 609.951.2222 or via email at risa@rkleinerlaw.com for more information about mediation and collaborative divorce.