Contested divorce attorney
A contested divorce is a different proceeding from an uncontested one, not simply a slower version of it. When one spouse disputes what the marital estate contains, what it is worth, or what each party earns, the court stops accepting the parties’ word and starts requiring proof. That shift changes everything about how the case is built. Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. handles contested divorce, discovery disputes, and equitable distribution trials across Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York. This page explains what a contested divorce actually requires of you, and what the work involves when assets or income are in dispute.
What the Court Requires You to Prove
In an uncontested divorce, the parties present an agreement and the court reviews it. In a contested divorce, there is no agreement, and the burden falls on each side to establish the facts it wants the court to accept.
Practically, that means you must be prepared to prove three separate categories. First, what property exists — every account, interest, policy, and holding, including those titled in one spouse’s name alone. Second, what each item is worth, and as of what date. Third, what each party earns or is capable of earning, which drives support.
Each category is proven with documents and testimony, not assertions. A spouse who believes assets are missing but cannot point to a bank record, a tax return line, or a transfer trail is asking the court to act on suspicion. Courts do not do that. The work of a contested case is converting suspicion into a record.
How Concealment Is Actually Uncovered
Assets are rarely hidden in a way that looks like hiding. More often they are moved somewhere ordinary and simply left off a disclosure form.
The patterns that surface repeatedly include income deferred until after the case concludes, business revenue routed through an entity the other spouse never reviewed, accounts opened at an institution the family never used, transfers to a relative characterized as repayment of an old loan, and cash withdrawals in amounts small enough to avoid drawing attention individually but substantial in aggregate.
None of these are found by asking. They are found by reconciliation — comparing tax returns against account statements, comparing reported income against actual spending, and comparing the current balance sheet against the one that existed two years earlier. Where the numbers do not reconcile, the gap identifies where to direct discovery.
Discovery Tools: Interrogatories, RPDs, Subpoenas, Depositions
Discovery is the formal mechanism for compelling information, and each tool does something the others cannot.
Interrogatories are written questions answered under oath. They are useful for establishing the boundaries of a party’s position — what they claim to own, what they claim to earn, what they claim happened to a particular asset. A sworn answer that later proves inaccurate becomes evidence in itself.
Requests for production compel documents: statements, returns, loan applications, closing files, entity records. Loan applications deserve particular attention, because a party who understated income in a divorce filing may have overstated it to a lender.
Subpoenas reach third parties — banks, employers, brokerages, business entities — and produce records the opposing spouse cannot edit before they arrive.
Depositions place a witness under oath, on the record, answering follow-up questions as they are asked. This is where inconsistencies between documents and prior sworn answers are confronted directly, and where a party’s explanation is locked in before trial.
Motions to Compel and Sanctions
Discovery obligations are frequently met with silence, partial production, or objections that resolve nothing. The response is procedural rather than rhetorical.
The usual sequence begins with a deficiency letter identifying, item by item, what was requested and what was not produced. If that does not resolve the shortfall, the next step is a motion to compel, asking the court to order production and to set a deadline. If the court’s order is then disregarded, sanctions become available.
Sanctions vary by jurisdiction but generally include shifting the cost of the motion to the non-complying party, barring that party from introducing evidence it failed to produce, and permitting the court to draw an adverse inference — treating the unproduced information as unfavorable to the party who withheld it. That last remedy matters: a spouse who refuses to produce records about an account may find the court resolving questions about that account against them.
Experts You Will Need: Forensic Accountant, Vocational, Valuation
Contested financial cases are generally not proven through documents alone. Three categories of expert witness appear most often.
A forensic accountant traces funds, reconstructs income where records are incomplete, and identifies transfers inconsistent with a party’s stated financial position. Their report converts a stack of statements into a narrative the court can follow.
A vocational expert witness addresses earning capacity, which becomes central when a spouse leaves employment or reduces income during the proceeding. The question before the court is not only what a party earns, but what that party is capable of earning given education, work history, and the labor market.
A valuation expert witness establishes what a closely held business, professional practice, pension, or restricted equity interest is worth. Valuation is frequently the largest disputed number in the case, and opposing valuations are challenged on methodology, assumptions, and the data the analyst was given.
What This Costs and How Long It Takes
Cost in a contested divorce is driven by scope, not by hourly rate alone. The variables that move it are the number of assets requiring independent valuation, whether the opposing party complies with discovery or has to be compelled, how many depositions are required, how many expert witnesses are retained, and whether the matter resolves at settlement or proceeds through trial.
Timelines are set largely by the court’s calendar and by the pace of discovery. A case in which both sides produce records promptly moves considerably faster than one requiring successive motions to compel. Contested matters involving business valuation or tracing typically span multiple discovery cycles before a trial date is reached.
We discuss fee structure and the anticipated scope of work at the outset, so the decisions about how far to pursue an issue are made with the cost of that issue understood.
Recovering Your Fees From the Other Side
Fee-shifting is available in family matters in each of the jurisdictions where the firm practices, though the standards differ and no outcome can be assured.
Two distinct paths exist. The first is need-based: where there is a significant disparity in the parties’ financial resources, a court may direct the party with greater means to contribute toward the other’s fees so that both can participate meaningfully in the litigation. The second is conduct-based: where a party’s discovery violations, non-compliance with orders, or unfounded positions have unnecessarily increased the cost of the case, courts have authority to shift the resulting fees to that party.
Conduct-based recovery depends on a contemporaneous record. Preserving the deficiency letters, the motions, and the orders as the case proceeds is what makes the request supportable later.
Speak With Mr. Sris
Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. was founded in 1997. Mr. Sris is a former prosecutor and is admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York. The firm handles contested divorce, discovery disputes, and equitable distribution trials across those five jurisdictions.
To discuss a contested divorce matter, request a consultation. Reach our location at (888) 437-7747. Consultations are by appointment.
Last reviewed: August 20, 2026.
The information on this page is general and is not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading it or by contacting the firm. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case. Results may vary.
Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Attorney responsible for this advertising: Mr. Sris.