An inductive analytic criterion for flatness
  We present a constructive criterion for flatness of a morphism of analytic spaces X -> Y or, more generally, for flatness over Y of a coherent sheaf of modules on X. The criterion is a combination of a simple linear-algebra condition "in codimension zero" and a condition "in codimension one" which can be used together with the Weierstrass preparation theorem to inductively reduce the fibre dimension of the morphism. 
Janusz Adamus, Edward Bierstone and Pierre D. Milman
math.AC math.CV