Anyone wishing to file for divorce in the state of Rhode Island must complete a financial form known as “Assets and Liabilities Statements,” also known as Form DR-6.

I wrote about this form quite some time ago to help people understand it, because it was unclear what the form was intended for, what it was actually used for, and to try to remove, at least to a small degree, some of the mystery that surrounds the confusing DR-6 form of Rhode Island.

In October 2011, the Rhode Island DR-6 Asset and Liability Disclosure Form was completely revised and a new DR-6 form is now required. The former DR-6 form consisted of the front and back of a single page. The new and improved Form DR-6 is now nine (9) pages long and has been created in the form of an Excel spreadsheet that is available for download from the Rhode Island Family Court website.

The new DR-6 is substantially more extensive and asks for more specific information on virtually all forms of assets, debts, income, expenses, and investments.

Whether the new Rhode Island Assets and Liabilities Statement is truly an improvement is an issue that continues to be debated. However, at a minimum, the form requires a substantial amount of disclosure by all plaintiffs and, to the extent that the court enforces the DR-6 filing, subsequent disclosure to the same extent by the defendant.

As with its predecessor form, there are no specific instructions for completing the new Rhode Island Family Court Form DR-6. Although the detailed nature of the form might suggest that it is no longer confusing. However, you may change your mind once you try to complete one on your own.

The confusion lies in the fact that it is entirely possible for an item of income to fit easily into a sub-category of asset as well. The same concept applies to a debt item that could also fit into a category or sub-category of liabilities. Common sense would seem to indicate that including the same item in both the debt section and the liability section would create a double entry and that the creators of the form would have no reason to create a form that duplicates information.

The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the creators of the form only intended it to include any elements that might fall into both areas in one of the areas.

So what is the confusion, right? In which area should it be included? Should you include the element that seems appropriate to you in the first section and leave it out of the corresponding second section? Or should I do it in the reverse order and wait until you get there to see if you get to a second section that could be applied and put it there?

One would think that there would be an appropriate direction for this question. I tried to use common sense and my analytical mind to determine the best category and / or section that should be selected when working with various debt items. I found that even if I wanted to discern the best category and / or section to place an item in, I found that numerous items applied equally well to two categories and / or sections on the DR-6 form. In the course of analyzing the form with real information, I found that there were even three semi-common elements in many divorce financial structures that could fit equally well in three (3) sections of the DR-6 form.

So I asked a member of the committee who created the form about this problem. They told me to put it in one of the places. So I asked if they were going to create instructions for the new Rhode Island DR-6 Asset and Liability Declaration Form. Unfortunately, no instructions for the form are anticipated to assist attorneys or the general public.

Unfortunately, this article may raise more questions than it actually answers. However, in any case, it will confirm to you that you are not the only one who has concerns about this form and the confusion it creates for attorneys and the general public as well.

If you look closely at the form, there is one thing I appreciate being able to clarify for you. If the intent of the form is to provide reliable estimates for the parties and the Rhode Island Family Court, then you cannot just put an item into a category or section of the form and leave it at that. The fact is that the form performs numerous calculations when used in its original Excel format.

If an item is not included in the category or section that the creators of the form “intended” in this new DR-6 form, then the resulting calculations performed by the DR-6 worksheet will be incorrect. One number may be over-inflated, while another may be underestimated.

It would only take two or three items placed in an “unintentional” category or section to substantially discard the resulting calculations in the spreadsheet. Depending on how the parties and / or the family court judge trust or interpret the DR-6 calculations, this confusion created by the new DR-6 form could prevent an agreement between the parties or mislead the court into unintentionally believing in the finances of one of the parties. they are different from what they really are.

Rhode Island’s new and improved DR-6 Assets and Liabilities Statement is more detailed and comprehensive than ever and has positive possibilities for resolving family law cases; however, without instructions for this new form, the confusion remains.