Creating Financial Statements

Financial statement forms are a key component of family law proceedings. Divorcepath simplifies the process of creating these forms by pre-filling them with financial data from your client profile, including income, expenses, assets, and liabilities.

Starting a New Financial Statement

To create a financial statement form:

1. Open the client file for the relevant matter.
2. Select Documents & Forms in the matter sidebar.
3. On the Financial statement card, click Create statement.

You can also click Financial Statement under Documents & Forms in the sidebar, or click Create at the top of the sidebar and choose Financial statement. Each route opens the Create Financial Statement page for the current matter.

Selecting the Jurisdiction-Specific Form

Financial statement requirements vary by province and court level. On the Create Financial Statement page:

1. Check the Jurisdiction. Divorcepath fills it in from the matter where it can.
2. Under Financial statement for, choose the party whose financial statement you are preparing. Your client is selected by default.
3. Choose the Court. The template list shows the financial statement forms for that jurisdiction and court, and you can use Search to narrow it further.
4. Click the form you need. For example, in Ontario, select Form 13.1, Financial Statement (Property and Support Claims), when the matter includes a property claim.

Divorcepath includes the standard financial statement forms required in each Canadian jurisdiction, so you can choose the form that applies to your matter.

Auto-Populated Financial Data

When you generate the financial statement, Divorcepath automatically populates the form with data from the client profile's financial information. This includes:

• Income — employment income, self-employment income, investment income, government benefits, and other sources of income as entered in the client profile.
• Expenses — budget items and child expenses entered in the client profile.
• Assets — real property, vehicles, bank accounts, investments, pensions, and other assets.
• Liabilities — mortgages, loans, credit card debts, and other outstanding obligations.

Before you create the form, the Form Wizard below the form details shows which parts of the client profile the form uses, such as Child Expenses, Income & Adjustments, Budget Items, and Property & Debt, and whether any required information is missing. Click Start to fill in missing information, or Review to check it. When you are ready, click Create. With Open in Editor switched on, the statement opens in the Document Editor as soon as it is ready.

This automatic population saves considerable time compared to manually transferring financial data into the form.

Reviewing Auto-Populated Data

After the form is generated, it is important to review the auto-populated data for accuracy:

1. Open the financial statement in the Document Editor by clicking its name in the matter's document library.
2. Open the Document Data panel to see the mapped fields and their current values. Click a field to find it in the form.
3. Open the Calculations panel to review automatic calculations, such as income totals and property totals, that have been computed from the entered data.
4. Edit any values directly in the editor if corrections are needed.

Calculations and Totals

Financial statement forms typically include calculated fields such as subtotals, category totals, and grand totals. Divorcepath handles these calculations automatically through the Calculations panel in the Document Editor. With Auto-recalculate switched on, related calculations are updated when you change a value in the form, so your totals remain accurate throughout the editing process. Click Recalculate All to refresh every calculation at once.

Generating the Final Document

Once you have reviewed and verified the financial data, you can:

• Download PDF for filing with the court.
• Download DOCX if you need to make further edits in another word processor.
• Use the History panel to return to an earlier version of the financial statement. Divorcepath saves versions automatically, and you can rename a version, star it, compare it with the current document, or restore it. This is useful if financial circumstances change and the form needs to be updated later.

The financial statement will remain in the matter's document library on the Documents & Forms page, where you can return to it at any time to make updates or generate a revised version.