Income and Expense Declaration
The following link is for that Income and Expense Declaration form that is used in all California courts. You should download this form which will help you when reading instructions on how it is to be completed.
File Download (PDF File): fl150 – declaration of income & expense
Completing Your Income and Expense Declaration
Before you start to fill complete your Income and Expense Declaration, you should gather the following documents: (1) last 12 months of pay stubs, (2) last two years of filed tax returns, (3) documents for any other income, and (4) a list of your monthly expenses.
Section 1 Employer Information
Employer information for your current employer or your most recent employer. Take this information directly from your pay stub.
Section 2 Age and Education
Enter your current age, education background and professional license or vocational training you may have received.
Section 3 Tax Information
Check the first box if you have filed taxes and the list the year. Also include the state where filed and the number of dependents claimed.
Section 4 Other Party’s Income
List the other party’s income and how it was determined.
Section 5 Income
There are two columns. The first is for your last month’s income. The second is for the yearly average. State your regular income, overtime, commissions, and bonuses. Remember, to average any income to arrive at a monthly amount.
Salary – Gross salary is what you make before taxes. This is your immediate prospective earnings. You should put the amount per month and the average amount over the past 12 months. Remember to use gross figures (before taxes).
Overtime – Any income earned over your assigned duties.
Commissions or bonus income – You will want to be very clear about how your commission scheme works and may want to speak with an attorney to optimize your outcomes.
Public Assistance – This includes social security income.
Section 6 Investment Income
Use this section if you are receiving income from stocks, rental property, a trust, or from any other source. Rental property income is income reduced by expenditures (which includes property taxes, maintenance, and hours managing property). Family Code Section 4508(2).
Section 7 Income from Self-Employment
This section is used if you run your own business. Enter all business information. You will need profit and loss statements to determine your net income. If this applies to your case, the information can be found on Schedule C of your tax returns.
Section 8 Additional Income
Use this section for one-time or other income. Lottery income, consistent payments from family, and income from Uber are all reportable.
Section 9 Change in Income
You need to inform the court if you have either changed jobs or lost your job within the last 12 months. You will also need to explain why.
Section 10 Deductions
You should list all appropriate deductions that appear on your paystub or that can be verified. This information is often found on your paystub. Many employers have discretionary retirement contributions, such as 401k contributions. Don’t include your voluntary 401k contributions here, only include mandatory contributions such as a government pension.
Section 11 Assets
Disclose your cash on hand, any assets that you can easily sell, and all other property less any debt. This information is found by looking at your bank statements, stock holdings, and real estate. You must fill out Section 11 correctly if you are going to request attorney’s fees. Remember, this number should be close to the value of all assets stated in other financial disclosures.
Section 12 The Following People Live with Me
List the names, age, relationship of any other person who lives with you. Should you know about that person’s income, you will need to disclose it. Be sure to check the box if they contribute to the household expense. Spousal support can be impacted based on who lives with you. For example, if you are the supporting spouse and you have a new dependent, then you may have to pay less in support. The same goes if you are a supported spouse and you do not pay rent because someone else is paying your expenses in your home. That may impact your spousal support amount.
Section 13 Average Monthly Expenses
There are three boxes; estimated expenses, actual expenses, and proposed.
You can list either what you are actually spending or what you will need in the future. Remember that you are to list “monthly” expense which may require you to take into account semi-annually or annual costs. Note that sub-section p is the amount listed in Section 14 and that in sub-section s you will need to list the amount of any expense paid by others.
Mortgage: If you have an adjustable rate mortgage, indicate what you expect the payments will be for the next 6 months. Determine the amount of principal and interest included in the monthly payment – this impacts tax deductions and net spendable income. Make sure you are including property taxes and property insurance. You may need to estimate the reasonable amount for repairs and upkeep (remember to include your gardener, pool service, and housekeeper).
Health care: These are costs that are not paid by insurance. Include here your monthly prescriptions.
Child care: This includes aftercare, preschool, nanny, summer child care.
Groceries: An average family spends $600 a month on groceries.
Eating out: An average family spends $300 a month on eating out.
Utilities: Use your bills to make this entry.
Telephone: Do not include business related telephone expenses.
The second half of the categories are self-explanatory and are not necessarily strategic with the exception of “n” savings and investments. There are some spousal support cases, which establish that the marital standard of living must be calculated by looking at the pattern of saving. The types of expenses that can go in “other” include haircuts, pet care, memberships.
Section 14 Installment Payments
List all credit card debts and/or loan that you are currently paying on monthly. Use your loan and credit card statements for this step.
Section 15 Attorney Fees
This is used for the purpose of attorney’s fees and typically completed by an attorney if necessary. This is only required if one party is requesting reimbursement of attorney’s fees from the other. California Family Codes §§2030 – 2034 allows the court to award fees in the amount that are “reasonably necessary” to properly litigate and/or negotiate a divorce.
Section 16 Number of Children
Enter information about the number of children you have and the time you and the other parent spend with them. To determine a percentage calculate the number of hours per year and divide by 8760 hours (total hours in a year).
Section 17 Children’s Health-Care Expenses
You will need to include information about your children’s medical care providers.
Section 18 Additional Expenses for the Children in this Case
These amounts are often the same as the figure entered in Section 13, subsections b and c.
Section 19 Special Hardships
Provide information about other costs you may be incurring for your children.
Section 20 Other Information I want the Court to Know
Describe any unusual circumstance surrounding your case. Examples would be that you are disabled, suffering from a medical problem, or a victim of domestic violence.
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