Equitable Distribution

The marital balance sheet, drafted from the case file.
Every figure cited.

Open the ED tab on an organized case and the worksheet is already drafted — nine sections, date-of-filing balances for cash and debts, current values for investments, and a citation on every machine-filled figure. If a value can't be traced to a source page, it isn't filled in. It's flagged for your review. Hours of statement-hunting become a review pass.

9
worksheet sections
11
flag reasons
1
citation per filled figure
A drafted marital balance sheet: sections for cash, brokerage, retirement, automobiles, and liabilities, with Petitioner and Respondent columns, a citation chip on every filled value, one flagged row, and a settlement footer. ED worksheet · Smith vs. Smith DRAFT REF DESCRIPTION T PETITIONER RESPONDENT CASH IN BANKS 1 Chase Checking ··4821 CHASE-0042 p.3 J $9,102.25 $9,102.25 2 Citizens Savings ··2210 CITZ-0018 p.1 P $24,310.66 STOCKS AND BROKERAGE ACCOUNTS 3 Fidelity Brokerage ··9440 FID-0112 p.4 R $214,880.02 RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS 4 Vanguard 401(k) ··8836 VGRD-0071 p.2 P $96,412.77 AUTOMOBILES 2019 Honda Pilot Needs review TBD LIABILITIES / DEBTS / CREDIT CARDS 5 Amex ··3005 AMEX-0089 p.2 J ($4,455.69) ($4,455.68) Petitioner · 54% Respondent · 46% TO EQUALIZE · $23,704 · R → P 31 of 34 rows counted
The draft

Drafted from the record, not from scratch

Your statements, deeds, loan documents, and policies are already classified, extracted, and organized in the case inventory. Open the ED tab and the worksheet drafts itself from that record: nine sections, Cash in Banks through Liabilities / Debts / Credit Cards, one row per account, property, vehicle, policy, and business interest — discovered from the documents themselves, not typed in by hand.

The structure comes from the documents too. Multi-account statements fan out into one row per account. Business entities appear as header rows with their bank accounts indented beneath them. Mortgages sit under their properties; loans sit under their retirement accounts.

The draft builds on the same pipeline that produces the inventory — classified documents, extracted fields, deduplicated accounts. See how it works.

Structure discovered from the documents
BUSINESS INTERESTS
JOYEUX MARKETING GROUP
Chase Business Checking ··1180 $32,118.09 CHASE-0107 p.1
REAL ESTATE
1424 Lakeview Dr
Mortgage — Wells Fargo ··9931 −$401,590.88 WF-0134 p.12
CASH IN BANKS
Morgan Stanley ··7734 $61,004.31 MS-0056 p.2
Morgan Stanley ··7742 $12,940.18 MS-0056 p.5
one statement, two accounts — fanned out, one row each
How it works

Draft. Review. Export.

Draft

1 — Draft

Open the ED tab on an organized case. Ordernize drafts the nine-section marital balance sheet from the case record: rows, values, titles, and a citation on every machine-filled figure.

Review

2 — Review

Work the flag queue. Every flag shows why the row needs attention, links to the evidence, and says in plain language what to enter. Confirm values, set titles (Petitioner / Respondent / Joint), exclude rows that don't belong.

Export

3 — Export

Download the .xlsx in the ED template — REF numbering, allocation formulas, section totals — stamped DRAFT until the last flag clears.

Traceability

Every figure traces to its source page

Every machine-filled value carries a citation: the document, its Bates number, the page, and the exact extracted field it came from. In the review screen, the citation is a click-to-source link that opens the underlying document. In the Excel export, it backs the REF column.

Not a black box — every balance, every date, every figure links back to the exact source page it came from. If a number can't be traced, it doesn't go in the worksheet. You can audit the draft the way you'd audit a junior analyst's work — except this one shows its work on every line.

A worksheet cell connected by a line back to a miniature source-document page, with the cited figure highlighted on the page. WORKSHEET ROW · REF 3 Fidelity Brokerage ··9440 $214,880.02 FID-0112 · p.4 field · accounts[0].ending_balance document · Bates · page · field FIDELITY INVESTMENTS Ending balance $214,880.02 FID-0112 · page 4
Every value carries its source: document, Bates number, page, and field — one click from the document.
Value semantics

It knows which value belongs in which column

Divorce accounting has value rules, and the worksheet follows them. Cash and liabilities take the date-of-filing balance — pulled from the statement that actually covers the filing date, not whichever one is closest. Stocks, brokerage, and retirement accounts take the most current statement value.

When the covering statement is stale, or no statement spans the filing date at all, the row is flagged instead of silently filled. Stale data never masquerades as a filing-date balance.

Value policy by section
Cash in Banks date-of-filing balance
Liabilities / Debts / Credit Cards date-of-filing balance
Stocks and Brokerage Accounts current value
Retirement Accounts current value
Flagged Covering statement ends 12/31/2025 — filing date is 04/02/2026. Held for review, not filled.
The review queue

Flagged, not guessed

When a value can't be cleanly sourced, the system never substitutes a guess. No statement covers the filing date? Flagged. Covering statement too stale? Flagged. No document provides a value at all — a vehicle that needs a market lookup, a business that needs a valuation? Flagged, on purpose. Title unknown? Flagged. Every flagged row is held out of the totals until you resolve it. That gate is enforced in the math, not just the interface: a flagged row cannot move the settlement numbers.

Each flag opens a review card with three things. Why: the specific reason, like "No statement covers 04/02/2026 — nearest ends 12/31/2025." Where: a link to the evidence document. What to do: plain-language guidance on what to request or enter. Some rows will always need you — vehicle values, business valuations — and the worksheet doesn't pretend otherwise; it holds the row open and tells you what it needs. Values you enter by hand are labeled as manual, with a note field. They are never dressed up as document-sourced.

A review card for a flagged row: the reason it was flagged, a link to the evidence document, plain-language guidance, and a form to enter a value and note. Needs review — No covering statement WHY No statement covers 04/02/2026 — nearest ends 12/31/2025. WHERE CITZ-0031 · p.2 opens the evidence document WHAT TO DO No statement covers the filing date — request one or enter the filing-date balance manually. Filing-date balance Note (marked manual) Mark reviewed manual values are labeled manual — never dressed up as sourced
The review card: why the row is flagged, where the evidence is, and what to enter.
The settlement view

Watch the settlement take shape

Titles allocate each row to Petitioner, Respondent, or Joint, and the totals compute live: the marital total, each party's share, and the payment that equalizes a 50/50 split. A sticky footer keeps the proportion bar, the equalizing payment, and a rows-counted progress tag in view while you work.

Only resolved, traceable rows count toward the totals — the settlement figure you're looking at is always one you can defend.

Petitioner · 54% Respondent · 46%
To equalize · $23,704 · R → P
31 of 34 rows counted
Flagged rows stay out of the totals — the settlement figure only counts numbers you can trace.
The export

Exports into the Excel template you already use

The export is a real .xlsx written into the forensic accountant's ED template — same sections, same columns, REF numbering on countable rows, per-party allocation formulas, live section subtotals, and the TOTAL NET ASSETS and TO EQUALIZE PARTIES footer. Liabilities carry their sign.

Until every flag is resolved, the export is stamped DRAFT with the case caption. Nothing leaves the system looking more finished than it is.

Working the analysis side? See Ordernize for forensic accountants.

ED worksheet export
EXCEL
ED-Worksheet_Smith-v-Smith.xlsx
Nine sections · REF numbering · allocation formulas · section totals
96 KB
DRAFT — Smith vs. Smith · until the last flag clears

The inventory proves what's in the file. The worksheet proves where every number came from.

More questions? The FAQ covers Equitable Distribution alongside the rest of the pipeline.

See it on a real case

Stop hand-building the balance sheet.

Bring a case. We'll draft the marital balance sheet from your own documents — citations, flags, and the Excel export — and walk you through the flag queue. Our team contacts you within one business day.

Schedule a demo