During the divorce mediation process you will address spousal support, more commonly known as alimony. If it is warranted in your situation then you need to agree upon an amount and how long it will last. One of the starting points for this discussion is your post-divorce income and expenses. You will not need $10,000 a month in spousal support if your expenses are $4,000. And you cannot pay $10,000 a month in support if your income is $4,000. Completing the New Jersey Case Information Statement (CIS) budget form during mediation helps couples establish a clear financial picture for spousal support and child support and the child-related expenses that are in addition to child support. Organizing monthly expenses into shelter, transportation, and personal categories during the divorce mediation process ensures transparent negotiations.

The CIS form is a court form. Many people finding completing this form a frustrating exercise. The budget section (Part D of the Case Information Statement) requires a detailed breakdown of your monthly spending. You need to allow for an expense on a monthly basis even if it only occurs once a year, like license and registration or a vacation. Most people are not renewing their driver’s license or taking a vacation every month but need to budget for it as a monthly expense on the form. The form is broken down into three separate sections.

• Shelter Expenses: Include your mortgage or rent, property taxes, home insurance, utilities, home maintenance, and repairs.
• Transportation Expenses: Cover such expenses as car payments, gas, vehicle insurance, maintenance, repairs, commuting expenses and license and registration.
• Personal Expenses: Account for groceries, medical care, clothing, entertainment, subscriptions, personal care, vacations, and children’s activities.

There are two columns on the form that asks for two distinct budgets. Each party completes this form. The left column represents the marital lifestyle and should be the same for each party. It does not matter what money paid for what line item. Just estimate the average monthly cost of that line item. The right column is your personal financial responsibility for that line item after the divorce is finalized and you ae living apart. You may not know the answer of who is paying how much for what expenses (especially some of the costs related to the children) when first doing this exercise, so do the best you can with it. Many clients have to do several versions of this budget. And do not force the monthly expenses to match your monthly income. Try to represent the actual expenditures you have each month. 

This is where the intersection of support and expenses meet. Doing the budget form gives you a sense of how much you were spending living under one roof and how much you will be spending when living apart. The reality is that you were spending x on your monthly budget when living under one roof. The expenses of living apart are most likely much greater than x but your income has not increased. Some people are fortunate enough to be able to afford the same lifestyle in two separate homes without increasing their income. Many people are not in that position and need to adjust their lifestyle postdivorce.

If one person earns significantly more than the other person then spousal support is usually warranted. But how can one person pay support and still afford to pay their own bills? This is where a divorce mediator can step in to help guide the discussion and normalize the stress of the unknown. How is this going to work? We work together to figure out a support amount that can work for both sides. We review the budget together to find any miscalculations. A common one is putting a yearly amount in for a monthly amount. You can also make adjustments of who will pay for what after the divorce, especially some of the children’s expenses that are over and above the child support amount (cell phones, camps, day care, sports, etc.). In divorce mediation you put in the effort to create a workable post-divorce budget tailored to your actual separate incomes rather than letting a judge make this vital decision for you. The CIS budget form is an arduous but useful task and helps support the discussion about spousal support.