Get Started with your 13.1 Financial Statement






Financial Statement Guide


As you begin your journey in completing your financial statement, Disclosure Clinic is here to help.

Below is a step-by-step process — and that process does not start with filling out the financial statement!

☁️ (1) File Storage

Before you start working on your financial statement, find either a place on your computer or a cloud storage site that works for you. Collecting necessary documents will help you organize and share them, which is a key component to the financial disclosure process.

In choosing a storage site, consider:

  • Ease of access for you
  • User interface for the device(s) you will likely use for uploading and organizing
  • Ease of uploading
  • Privacy Settings
  • Ease of controlling the sharing features
  • Amount of storage space provided vs cost
  • Additional features, such as search, listing contents, and editing within the cloud
Currently, Disclosure Clinic relies on Google Drive because many clients have Gmail accounts, making it easy to collaborate. But even having a folder on your computer is a good start. For a list of online storage options, with relative pros and cons, see this website.

📁 (2) Make Folders for Your Documents

It’s essential that you keep track of your documents, so you will want to make folders. We’ll give you two options here: simple and detailed. We recommend naming the folders with numbers (01, 02…) to keep them in the order of the financial statement.

Option 1: Simple Folder List

01 Income

02 Expenses

03 Assets

04 Debts

05 Other

Download Simple Folders (ZIP)

Option 2: Complete Folder List

The more complete folder list includes folders for (almost) every section of the financial statement:

01 Income

02 Budget and Expenses

04a Land

04b Household Goods and Vehicles

04c Savings and Accounts

04d Insurance

04e Business Interests

04f Money owed to Me

04g Other Property

05 Debts and Other Liabilities

06a Date of Marriage Assets

06b Date of Marriage Debts and Liabilities

07 Excluded Property

08 Disposed of Property

Download Complete Folders (ZIP)

🌟 You are doing great so far, and well ahead of others going through this process without preparation!

🏷️ (3) A Quick Word on Naming Documents

There is no “correct” way to name your documents, so don’t worry! If you are looking for some consistency, we recommend the following formats:

Income and Expense Documents

[name of document] – [your name] – [date of document]

📄 2022 Income Tax Return – Y. Name – 2023.04.30

📄 2022 Notice of Assessment – Y. Name – 2023.05.10

📄 Pay Stub – Y. Name – 2023.07.03

Other Documents
One trick is to name the document using the column order of the financial statement table that the document belongs to.

[type of account] – [Institution] – [date of document] [type of document]

🏦 Chequing – RBC – 5576 – 2023.07.03 screenshot

📈 TFSA – CIBC – 9981 – 2023.07.03 printout

🏠 Mortgage – Simplii Financial – 3343 – 2023.07.03 statement

⚽ [Child’s Name] – Camp – 2023.07.03 registration invoice

🗂️ (4) Know What Documents to Gather

The documents you need to provide are based on the legal claims you are making, the legal claims you may be defending against, and your particular finances.

(A) Income Documents
(B) Expense Documents

Generally, you don’t need to document your entries for the Expenses section unless your budget becomes a primary issue. You definitely should collect either invoices or receipts for children’s expenses that will form a claim of Special and Extra Ordinary Expenses (found at Schedule B of the Form 13.1). The Document Checklist includes a section focusing on child expenses.

(C) Property Documents

For the Property section, fill out the form first to list what was owned and owed, then use that list to create a document checklist. Start with “today” and work backward:

  1. For each section, fill out the list of what you own/owe for the “Today” column.
  2. Think about whether you owned the same assets at Valuation Date. If not, write “N/A”.
  3. Still on Valuation date, list any other assets/debts that no longer exist today, putting “N/A” in the Today column.
  4. Think back to the date you civilly married: did you have the same assets? Note any additions or differences.
The Goal: You are looking to document ownership and value on the applicable date. Some assets require separate documents (like opinion evidence/appraisals) for exact values. Get ownership documents first before paying for appraisals.

Download a cross-check summary chart here for property documents per Family Law Rules.

💡 (5) Step-by-Step Help

We completed a mock DC Form 13.1 Financial Statement for you to see what a completed statement looks like.

  • Keep your notes simple. If you don’t know specific info, don’t guess. Estimate — and say so.
  • Not every note section needs completing; they are there to complement or qualify your info.
  • Use our helpful videos.
  • Review Divorcemate’s annotated Financial Statement.

🔗 (6) Helpful Websites

These websites are specific to completing your financial statement. For general family law, start with CLEO’s Steps to Justice.

Income & Budget
Property

🧭 (7) Still Lost?

Completing the Financial Statement is not easy. That’s why we created this site.

If you are still stuck, consider a Disclosure Clinic consultation. We provide real advice, promptly and efficiently.

Learn How it Works


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