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==Introduction==
In Canada, we don't litigate with cards up our sleeves. Instead, all of everyone's cards are on the table face up. This may not make a lot of sense right away, partly because of what we see in American movies and televisions shows, but the point is to cut through the bullshit to give each case court proceeding the best possible chance of settling without having to go through a trial. As Justice Punnett said, in the 2013 Supreme Court case of ''[http://canlii.ca/t/fzqb3 J.D.G. v J.J.V.]'', "the goal of proper disclosure is to enable the parties to resolve their dispute." Justice Fraser was even more blunt, in his 1994 decision in a Supreme Court case called ''[http://canlii.ca/t/1dn7f Cunha v Cunha]'':
<blockquote>"Non-disclosure of assets is the cancer of matrimonial property litigation. It discourages settlement or promotes settlements which are inadequate. It increases the time and expense of litigation. The prolonged stress of unnecessary battle may lead weary and drained [parties] simply to give up and walk away with only a share of the assets they know about, taking with them the bitter aftertaste of a reasonably-based suspicion that justice was not done."</blockquote>