If you are going through a divorce, how much should you let your spouse know?
The short answer is “everything.” At least everything that might relate to your finances.
California Family Code Sec. 2100 requires that shortly after a divorce proceeding is filed, both parties must make a full and accurate disclosure of all assets and liabilities in which either party may have an interest, and all income and expenses. Moreover, each party has a continuing duty to update that disclosure if there are any material changes.
The goal is each party will have a full and complete knowledge of the relevant facts at the time they reach a settlement or go to trial.
If either party intentionally fails to make a full and accurate disclosure to the other, that may be grounds to have the final divorce judgment set aside.
In one case, when two parties were going through a divorce, the wife failed to disclose that she had a winning lottery ticket. When the husband later discovered this, he was able to get the judgment set aside, and was awarded the entire amount of the lottery winnings (rather than just half). In re Marriage of Rossi, 90 Cal. App. 4th 34.
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