The Settlement Notebook is a wonderful device for your divorce case. I use it to organize, settle and try cases. I start each new case with a three-ring notebook and tabbed dividers.

Then I make a spread-sheet with Excel. The first column is sequential numbers. The second is Assets. The third is Husband. The fourth is Wife. The fifth is Total. And the sixth is Comments.

Going down the first column, I list general categories of assets, namely Real Estate, Bank Accounts, Investments, Retirement Funds and Miscellaneous. Then under each category, I identify specific assets, I include a notation of how they are titled, J for jointly, H for husband and W for wife.

I put the values across the columns, usually dividing joint accounts equally in the Husband’s column and the Wife’s column on my first draft. In the Comments column, I put the date of the statement that shows where the values come from.

Then I put the statements behind the tabs that correspond to the first column. Each asset has a number, and each number refers to the tab in the notebook, where I place a copy of the most recent statement supporting the value on the spread sheet.

Usually I put liabilities right below the asset they are attached to with a negative value. For example, I put the mortgage balance right below the residence value.

Then I add up the columns for the Husband, Wife and Total. I also include a percentage that the Wife and Husband have of the total marital estate.

I’ll write more about how to use the Settlement Notebook in future blogs.

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Related posts:

1. Focus Attention with the Settlement Notebook
2. Get the Facts First
3. What Would You Do with a $54.5 Million Divorce Settlement?
4. A Good Settlement
5. On Marital and Nonmarital Assets

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 at 2:05 pm and is filed under Divorce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.