Why does my husband’s divorce attorney want to see our daughter’s bank statements?

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Why does my husband’s divorce attorney want to see our daughter’s bank statements?

My husband filed for divorce and in my answer I stated that I agreed to an amicable divorce with our assets appropriately assigned. However, his lawyer requested not only my bank statements from the last 2 1/2 years but also my daughter’s. She is 20 years old. I don’t understand why she needs to get involved or am I misunderstanding the statement “you and/or your daughter’s”.

Asked on July 24, 2015 under Family Law, Texas

Answers:

B.H.F., Member, Texas State Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 8 years ago | Contributor

Usually an adult child is irrelevant to any divorce action.  Their business is their business.  A 20 year old would be aged out of the system for any child custody or support issues.  However, there are some limited exceptions. 

The first would be if there was a situation with your 20 year old such that she was still a dependent because she had some type of mental health condition.  The assets available to a dependent would be something the court would want to consider when deciding to award support after a child has aged out.

The second situation is if the other side is accusing you of hiding assets using your daughter's accounts.  If the other side can prove that you transferred a large amount of funds to your daughter to avoid their division as part of the community estate, then the other side could seek relief from the divorce court for the hiding or transfer of funds. 

His attorney may want the records just to look at them and see if there are any records.  However, if you are not on your daughter's account and you have no authority to control her accounts, then your daughter can invoke her right to privacy and refuse to disclose the records.  That's a discussion and decision to be made between you and your daughter. 

If something is happening on your case  that you don't understand, then you also need to set up a meeting with your attorney, ask more questions of the attorney, and make sure that you agree with the course of your case and that you understand the full ramifications of any decisions to be made. 


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