Originally Posted by Cheyenne
Fortunately, my experience with divorces is very limited. I have a general policy against lying regardless of the context, though. I can tell you from experience that people do go to jail for lying on bankruptcy schedules, and also in criminal 1983 prosecutions relating to lying. Bankruptcies are possible by-products of divorce. A quick Google search also revealed a number of sources, usually white papers on civil lawyer websites, that refer to the potential for perjury prosecutions, and one refers to civil cases in which the courts made referrals for prosecution. There also is a good discussion at 110 AMJUR POF 3d 479. Finally, I believe that the DA here would take and prosecute a winnable case if I walked in with the backup. That is about all the time that I am willing to put into this.

I also can see how property settlements can be handled by lawyers without the need for courts. That does not mean that inquiring minds may not ask about the whereabouts of the guns that formerly occupied the safe, and that the value of those will not be accounted for in the settlement.


All good points, but my experience has been that you can declare anything you want on a statement of financial condition that is filed during a divorce, even if it states that it is signed under the penalty of perjury.

It's usually only given a wink and a nod by the attorneys involved in the case because they've pretty much agreed on who is going to get what and when in order reach a settlement and to finalize the divorce.

This is not done, by the way, until both attorneys have determined that they have wrung as much out of their respective clients in the way of legal fees as they can. smirk

Sorry Bob...........