Divorce Financial Disclosure and Settlement Checklist: A Practical Checklist

Summary. A working checklist for the financial and settlement side of a divorce — the pre-filing sweep, automatic orders, temporary orders, disclosure and its review, discovery escalation, valuation, the after-tax balance sheet, the terms every agreement must settle, and the follow-through without which a settlement divides nothing.

For doctrine, see Divorce and Dissolution. For the workflow, see Getting Divorced.

Phase 1 — Before filing: the document sweep

Copy everything. Store it where the other spouse cannot reach it. Do not access their devices or private accounts.

Federal and state tax returns, 3 years, all schedules, with W-2s and 1099s.
Pay records for both spouses (most recent 6 months plus year-end).
Every account statement, 12–36 months: checking · savings · brokerage · retirement (401(k), 403(b), IRA, pension) · HSA · 529 · crypto exchange.
Deeds · mortgage statements · property tax bills · any HELOC.
Vehicle titles and loan statements.
Every credit card and loan statement, including cards where you are only an authorized user.
Insurance policies with declarations pages: life · health · disability · auto · homeowners.
Business records: returns, financial statements, K-1s, buy-sell agreement, general ledger.
Any premarital or postnuptial agreement.
Documents tracing any inheritance or gift — the account it landed in, and where it went.
Employee benefit summaries: stock options, RSUs, deferred compensation, pension summary plan description.
Date of separation written down.
Individual bank account opened; own income redirected.
Credit report pulled; every joint obligation listed.
Actual monthly household expenses computed from 12 months of statements.

Phase 2 — Automatic orders (they bind you at filing)

Read them. In most states, at filing neither party may:
- transfer, encumber, conceal, or dispose of property outside the ordinary course
- cancel or change insurance
- change beneficiary designations
- remove children from the state
These apply to the filing spouse from the moment of filing.
Any planned transaction cleared in advance or by written agreement.

Phase 3 — Temporary orders package

Sworn financial affidavit with supporting documents.
Realistic monthly budget built from actual statements, not estimates.
Child support guideline worksheet already computed.
Specific proposed parenting schedule with days and times.
Proposed order, short and specific, covering: occupancy of the home · schedule · support · who pays which bills · preservation of assets and insurance · interim fee contribution where there is an income disparity.
Understood: the temporary schedule becomes the status quo, and status quo is a best-interests factor.

Phase 4 — Your financial affidavit

Every asset listed, including those you believe are separate.
Every debt listed, with the name(s) on the obligation.
Income stated gross, including bonuses, overtime, commissions, self-employment, in-kind benefits.
Expenses supported by statements.
Complete and honest. A false affidavit supports reopening a settlement, a fee award, and in some states a fraud claim — and it destroys your credibility on custody.

Phase 5 — Reading their affidavit

Stated income compared against tax returns and pay records.
Schedule B checked — interest and dividends reveal accounts not listed.
Schedule D checked — sales reveal holdings.
Schedule E checked — rental property and partnerships.
Schedule C checked — real revenue and personal expenses run through the business.
Any loan or credit application obtained and compared to the affidavit.
Stated expenses tested against stated income — an unexplained gap is a question.
Accounts appearing on old statements but not on the affidavit flagged.

Phase 6 — Escalate to discovery when...

A self-employed or cash-business spouse.
One spouse controlled all the finances.
Unexplained transfers.
Lifestyle inconsistent with reported income.
A disputed business value.
Newly appearing "loans" from relatives.

Where hidden assets are actually found:

Tax return schedules (above).
Loan and credit applications.
Bank statements read for transfers, not balances — recurring payments to unknown accounts, safe deposit fees, storage units, unexplained premiums.
Deferred compensation: bonuses delayed, options unexercised, a promotion postponed.
Cash business compared against deposits, lifestyle, and industry norms.
Cryptocurrency: exchange records, wallet addresses, funding transfers.
"Loans" to relatives never repaid; personal expenses paid by a business.
Dissipation documented: gambling, an affair, gifts to a third party, deliberate waste during the breakdown.

Phase 7 — Characterization (this decides the case)

For each asset:

Marital · separate · disputed?
If separate: can it be traced with statements? (Burden is on the party asserting separate character.)
Commingling analyzed — separate funds deposited into a joint account used for household expenses.
Transmutation analyzed — retitling into joint names, a refinance into both names, a written agreement.
Active appreciation analyzed — increase attributable to marital effort or marital funds versus passive market growth.
Premarital portion of each retirement account identified and traced.
Inheritance and gift paths documented account by account.

Phase 8 — Valuation

House: appraisal (contested) or broker's opinion; deduct payoff and, if selling, costs of sale.
Defined contribution plans: current statements; premarital portion traced.
Defined benefit pension: present value by an actuary or a coverture-fraction deferred distribution — the choice allocates risk.
Survivor benefit addressed expressly (a share of a pension without a survivor annuity ends at the participant's death).
Military retirement: 10 U.S.C. § 1408; direct-pay eligibility; SBP election; and the Howell problem — no enforceable indemnity for pay waived for VA disability; build an alternative allocation instead.
Business: credentialed valuator (consider a joint expert); standard of value; enterprise vs. personal goodwill; marketability discount; owner compensation normalized; double-counting avoided (the same stream as both asset and income).
Equity compensation: grant documents; apportionment formula for options and RSUs vesting after separation.
Personal property: agree on a method. Do not litigate over furniture.

Phase 9 — The after-tax balance sheet

One page: every asset · value · character · after-tax value · who takes it.
Every debt: balance · name(s) on the obligation · who pays.
Roth vs. traditional vs. taxable-with-embedded-gain compared on an after-tax basis, never at face.
Basis identified for each taxable asset (26 U.S.C. § 1041 — transfer is tax-free but basis carries over).
Liquidity matched to need — the spouse needing cash flow does not take the illiquid asset.
The spouse keeping the house can qualify to refinance alone.

Phase 10 — Property terms every agreement must settle

Who takes each asset, by specific identification.
Joint debt paid off or refinanced — not merely allocated. (Creditors are not bound by the decree.) If allocation is unavoidable: security plus proof-of-payment obligation.
Refinance deadline with a consequence: "within 120 days; failing which, listed for sale within 30 days."
Deed execution and recording obligation.
Vehicle title transfers and loan refinances.
A QDRO for each qualified plan — named, with who drafts, who pays, and a deadline.
IRA transfers processed as trustee-to-trustee incident to divorce, never as withdrawals.
Tax items allocated: filing status for the year of divorce · dependency-related benefits · carryforwards · responsibility for prior-year deficiencies · innocent spouse considerations.

Phase 11 — Support terms

Child support

Guideline worksheet attached to the agreement.
Income inputs documented for both parties.
Overnight count stated.
Health insurance premiums, work-related childcare, extraordinary medical and educational expenses allocated with a percentage split and a reimbursement procedure with deadlines.
Any deviation supported by findings.
Payment through the state disbursement unit (creates the record).

Spousal support — all four decided:

Amount
Duration
Modifiable or not (state it expressly, either way)
Terminating events: death · remarriage · cohabitation (define it) · payor's retirement (define what qualifies)
Secured by life insurance in a stated amount, with the recipient as owner or with annual proof-of-coverage rights.
Post-2018 tax treatment understood: neither deductible nor taxable.
Nondischargeability understood (11 U.S.C. § 523).

Phase 12 — Parenting plan elements

Regular schedule by day and time.
Holiday schedule that overrides the regular schedule, alternating by year.
Summer and school-break schedule.
Exchange times, locations, and who transports.
Communication: between households (consider a co-parenting app) and between parent and child during the other's time.
Decisionmaking: education · non-emergency medical · mental health · activities — with a tiebreaker.
Records access for both parents.
Right of first refusal with a defined trigger.
Travel notice and passport handling.
Relocation notice provision with a specific number of days.
Introduction of new partners.
Mediation required before any motion.
Nothing included that you would not want enforced literally.

Phase 13 — Post-decree follow-through (the settlement happens here)

QDRO drafted, entered by the court, and ACCEPTED by the plan administrator — get the acceptance letter. Start from the plan's own model.
IRA transfers completed correctly.
Deed recorded.
Refinance completed by the deadline, removing the other spouse from the note.
Vehicle titles transferred; loans refinanced.
Joint accounts and cards closed; authorized users removed.
Beneficiary designations changed — life insurance, retirement, POD accounts. Change the ERISA plan form itself; a state revocation-on-divorce statute may not reach it.
Life insurance securing support in place, with proof of coverage.
Estate plan rewritten: will · powers of attorney · health care directive · trusts.
Name change processed: Social Security · DMV · passport · employer · banks.
Health insurance arranged; COBRA elected within the deadline.
Tax withholding re-run for the new filing status.
Every review date in the agreement calendared.

Phase 14 — Modification and enforcement

File promptly — most states will not modify retroactively before the filing date.
Substantial change in circumstances documented contemporaneously.
For enforcement: the order · the payment record · a clean arrears calculation.
Contempt exposure understood; where incarceration is possible, the Turner v. Rogers safeguards apply — notice that ability to pay is the critical issue, a financial disclosure opportunity, and an express finding.
Interstate: 28 U.S.C. § 1738A (custody) and 28 U.S.C. § 1738B (support) checked before filing anywhere new.