Simply put, your CIS is an extremely important document, not only in your divorce proceedings, but also in the proceedings that may arise after your divorce. Therefore, you should carefully complete your CIS and review your CIS with your lawyer, both before completing it, after completing it, and before submitting it to court. Creating a Case Information Statement (“CIS”) is often one of the most overwhelming and time-consuming tasks that parties undergo at the beginning of their divorce case. Nevertheless, it is an essential document that serves as a cornerstone of divorce proceedings, especially in controversial family lawsuits involving child support, alimony or fair distribution. A well-designed CIS is particularly important because it can ultimately impact how assets are divided and the amount of child support and/or benefits awarded by a court. The CIS is signed by you under oath on its veracity. Therefore, it can then be used in the case as an instrument of litigation. Often, a party does not know what their expenses are because their spouse maintained their expenses during the marriage. In this case, you should check bank statements, credit card statements, and any other documents from which your expenses were paid to determine your expenses. If necessary, you can contact the various creditors to obtain this information. Your CIS can and should be updated and modified if the circumstances of your case so require. Under New Jersey court rules, a CIS must be filed with the court and served on the opponent within 20 days of filing a response to a divorce action or at any other time determined by the court. The format to follow when filling in a CIS is very specific.
Click on the following link to access the SIC form required in Annex V to the Rules of Court. Sills Cummis & Gross, a full-service business law firm with offices in New Jersey and New York, has the skills of a full-service law firm in New York, but offers the economic benefits of a New Jersey-based headquarters. Our client list ranges from the Fortune 500 to emerging growth to foreign companies operating in the United States. The CIS is a document that determines your income, expenses (marital lifestyle and current expenses), assets and liabilities. This document is extremely important. It provides your lawyer, your spouse`s lawyer and the court with the information needed to determine support (i.e., support and family allowances), equitable distribution and counselling costs. You and your spouse must complete this document to the best of your ability and exchange it with each other. In fact, you won`t get any court support unless you`ve filed a CIS. When the divorce is over, you must keep your CIS as well as the CIS of your current ex-spouse. In the event that assistance is addressed after your divorce, you must provide the court with the CIS documents filed at the time of your divorce and an updated CIS so that the court can consider an application for modification or termination of assistance filed by you or your ex-spouse at that time. Preparing a detailed and personalized CIS is essential to give the court an accurate picture of your finances. While it may seem that the CIS is just a form to fill out, nothing could be further from the truth.
This can be an important element of advocacy that reflects information about your lifestyle that sets the stage for your future legal positions. This is a document that the court will constantly use throughout your divorce proceedings, including during mediation and/or the process. Therefore, it is extremely important to fill it thoroughly and truthfully. Consulting with an experienced family law lawyer who is familiar with the complex financial issues that may arise in your divorce proceedings should be done at the beginning of your case to ensure that potential issues such as child support, alimony or equitable distribution are strategically considered before preparing your CIS. If you are applying for support, the court will carefully consider your marital lifestyle expenses, as well as your current expenses, to determine the lifestyle and marital needs. These are two factors that the Court must take into account in determining whether support is appropriate and, if so, in determining the amount.