High conflict and multiple contested issues may cause divorcing parties to want to conduct depositions-a part of the discovery process-in a divorce case.

Depositions often dramatically affect the outcome of a divorce case. If you are involved a deposition, you will be sworn in and you must answer the questions asked by the lawyer for the other side.

Deposition Basics

When a marriage begins to fall apart, one spouse may attempt to hide assets and other sources of income to avoid splitting these assets in a divorce settlement or may want to attempt to lower a future child support or spousal support obligation. Illinois law, however, requires judges to equitably divide marital property in divorce settlements. Therefore, if one spouse hides marital property, a court ordered division of marital property will not be equitable.

The Discovery Process

Sometimes, a spouse may know that an asset exists and notices that it is missing from the other spouse's financial disclosures. Or, a spouse may only suspect that an asset is missing. In divorce cases, the law allows both instances to go through the discovery process-a process where both sides ask for certain information.