Tuesday, March 1, 2011

DO I HAVE TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL RECORDS REGARDING CHILD SUPPORT?

I frequently receive questions from people regarding their family law issues. The following is a question which the inquirer agreed may be publicly revealed, and my answer to the question:

QUESTION: Do I have to provide financial records regarding child support? How long before child support court do I need to provide financial records to the other party? And if I don't, what happens?

ANSWER: If the other party has sought financial information or records from you via discovery, such as interrogatories or a demand to produce records, for a pending trial or OSC [Order to Show Cause] for support (whether Spousal Support or Child Support), you need to respond and produce records within the 30-day response time.

If the other party has subpoenaed records from you, you need to comply with the requirements of the subpoena.

Your responses to any OSC (including your Responsive Declaration and your Income and Expense Declaration) need to be filed and served at least court days (not calendar days)prior to the hearing on the OSC.

Your local court rules should prescribe which documents you need to bring to the OSC hearing, but generally, those rules require production of your last two years of filed Income Tax returns (State and Federal), your loan applications from the last year, and your last three paycheck stubs (or advices of deposit).

If you don't comply with discovery requirements and/or the court rules, the Court can continue the hearing, impose monetary sanctions against you, and impose a temporary order without prejudice to a subsequent retroactive order after you provide the sought records.

This blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, a Los Angeles Certified Family Law Specalist, owner of Warner Center Law Offices, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Law Attorney serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years, offering a free confidential consultation regarding your divorce or family law issues, at 818/880-8990, responding to questions posed to him about Divorce and Family Law.

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