In complex property disputes – especially Family Law property settlements or commercial partnership dissolutions – a critical challenge is establishing the dissipation of assets (sometimes called wastage) or proving the existence of undisclosed funds.
Traditionally, this requires a forensic accountant or solicitor to manually cross-reference the Opposing Party’s financial disclosure against their correspondence. This manual process of comparing “representations” (what they said) against “transactions” (what they did) can be costly and prone to human error.
The Solution: While building the matter, use Legal Ready’s AI features to create a “Shadow Chronology”. This automatically juxtaposes the Opposing Party’s representations against their actual bank activity, instantly revealing credibility issues and discrepancies.
The Workflow
1. Ingest & Classify (The Disclosure)
Instead of manually sorting a mixed tranche of discovery documents, upload the Opposing Party’s entire disclosure set (bank statements, PDF emails, text message screenshots) into the matter using Smart Classification.
The AI automatically identifies and segregates evidentiary classes. It separates specific exhibits (e.g., “Westpac Statement – Jan 2024”) from correspondence (e.g., “Email to Accountant – Feb 2024”), filing them into distinct “Financial” and “Correspondence” directories ordered chronologically.
2. The Financial Layer (The Reality)
Establish the factual baseline of the Opposing Party’s spending. Using Bank Statement Analysis and Analyse:
- Upload the classified statements to identify gaps in disclosure (missing months).
- Configure the AI to flag potential dissipation of assets (e.g., transfers >$1,000, transfers to unknown third parties, or keywords like “BetFast”, “CoinSpot”, or “Casino”).
Result: A structured, objective schedule of financial movements prepared without manual data entry.
3. The Narrative Layer (The Representations)
Isolate the Opposing Party’s assertions regarding these assets. Navigate to the “Correspondence” folder and use the Analyse feature with a targeted prompt:
“Review all correspondence from the Respondent between January 2024 and June 2024. Extract any dates where the sale of the Blue Mountains property or the business loan is discussed. List the dates and the specific representations made regarding the clearing of funds or valuation.”
Result: A text-based timeline of the Opposing Party’s assertions (e.g., 12 Feb 2024: Respondent claims via email that ‘sale proceeds have not yet cleared’).
4. The Synthesis (The Discrepancy)
Use the Chronology Builder feature to merge the financial and narrative streams forming a “Shadow Chronology”. You can now see a single timeline view where Event A (Email Claim) and Event B (Bank Transaction) sit side-by-side.
- The Discrepancy: The AI highlights that while the Opposing Party claimed on 12 Feb that funds had not cleared, the Bank Analysis layer shows a credit of $150,000 received on 10 Feb and immediately transferred to a third-party account.
- Outcome: You now have a draft preliminary forensic schedule ready for inclusion in a Case Outline or Affidavit in support of a freezing order.
AI is often used for either document summary or data extraction. This use case forces the AI to perform cross-modal verification (Text vs. Data).
Standard Way: You rely on the client to spot the lie (“He said he didn’t have the money!”).
Legal Ready Way: You produce an objective, draft “Discrepancy Table” for your affidavit or case outline, citing the specific page numbers for both the email and the bank statement side-by-side.
Strategic Benefits:
- Family Law: Highly effective for arguments regarding “waste” or premature disposal of assets.
- Commercial: Useful for proving breach of fiduciary duty in partnership disputes where one partner claims a business expense was “agreed” in correspondence, but the bank data shows it was personal.