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What is Necessary to Obtain Financial Records from a Third Party in a Post Judgment Dissolution of Marriage Action in the Orlando, Florida Area?

Many times, in a post final judgment of dissolution of marriage in the Orlando, Florida area, one spouse is not paying the amount of child support or alimony that they were ordered by the court to pay. The other spouse may then file a Contempt action for failure to pay. Further, both spouses are entitled to mandatory disclosure in a post dissolution matter. 

Obtaining Financial Records

What happens if the payor spouse that has failed to pay the alimony or child support has remarried, and that the payee spouse wants to obtain financial records of the new spouse of the payor spouse? 

Before the court will allow the payee spouse to obtain those records, the court must examine considerations prior to compelling financial disclosure from a nonparty in a post judgment context, specifically Article I, Section 23, of the Florida Constitution. That clause  protects the financial information of persons if there is no relevant or compelling reason to compel disclosure. This is because personal finances are among those private matters kept secret by most people. Thus, the issue is relevancy. 

Determining Relevancy

When a judgment creditor seeks to discover the personal financial information of a nonparty, he or she bears the burden of proving that the information sought is relevant or is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. Further, the determination of relevancy should generally be made after an evidentiary hearing, due to the strong public policy underlying this constitutional protection of private financial information. 

Post judgment discovery is generally broader in scope than prejudgment discovery. The matters for post judgment discovery are those that will enable the judgment creditor to collect a debt or those that encompass information identifying or leading to the discovery of assets available for execution. But a proper predicate must be laid before someone other than the judgment debtor may be required to submit to financial discovery.

If you have more questions regarding a Marital and Family Law matter, you may call Ann Marie Giordano Gilden at Ann Marie Giordano Gilden, P.A. at 407-732-7620 and set an initial consultation. 

This article is for informational purposes only and does not form an attorney client privilege.