Pop Quiz: What is the purpose of a Financial Declaration?

Scores of attorneys, and even many judges, do not know either when a financial declaration is required in a Utah divorce action or what the purpose of the Financial Declaration is.

Search the Utah Code for "financial declaration." You won't find it there. No, provision for submission of financial declarations is found in the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 101 to be exact. Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 101(d)(1) provides, in pertinent part:

Attachments for motions and responses regarding alimony shall include income verification and a financial declaration. Attachments for motions and responses regarding child support and child custody shall include income verification, a financial declaration and a child support worksheet. A financial declaration shall be verified.

So, did you pass the quiz?

In my next post we'll tackle these questions:

1) Whose expenses are properly included in a financial declaration; the individual parties' personal expenses?; the individual parties' personal expenses and (if the party has any children) those of the children too?; the the entire family's expenses?

2) What relevance does (or should) a financial declaration have on determining child support when child support calculation is prescribed by statute?