FL-150 Instructions : When You Need To File The Income & Expense Declaration

If you are going through an amicable divorce in California your divorce will be more about paperwork and procedures rather than about a contested divorce with court and trials.

To that end, we discuss all matters of divorce as it relates to exactly that; the divorce paperwork and how to navigate the court procedure during your divorce in California.

When it comes to the FL-150 Instructions for the Income and Expense Declaration there are times when you need to file it with the court and then there are times you do not.

Why do we make this distinction? Basically, when we are helping our clients through an amicable divorce in California, protecting our clients privacy and information is important, especially in this world we live in where identity theft is so rampant.

So why would you want to provide the court an income and expense declaration and file it thus making it public record.

All your finances are laid out on the income and expense declaration. Everything from where you work to how much you make to how you file your taxes. Not to mention an entire list of all your expenses. To me, this information is personal and not something I want as pubic record if I can avoid it.

So when do you and when do you not have to file the income and expense declaration. And, to be clear, you always need to follow the disclosure requirements by completing the income and expense declaration, we are talking about when you have to actually file it.

Here is a video that discusses when you do and don’t need to file your income and expense declaration.

When You Need To File An FL-150 Income & Expense Declaration:

1. When there are minor children involved – The courts require an income and expense declaration to be file when there are minor children involved. This is because they want to verify the income of the parties to ensure that your child support order meets California’s minimum guideline amount for child support. This applies to default and default with agreement type divorce cases. (See below for exception to this rule)
2. True Default divorce case – If you have a true default divorce case you need to file your income and expense declaration. A true default divorce case is one where your spouse is not participating at all. Not responding (uncontested) and not going to sign an agreement (default with agreement) You need to file your income and expense declaration when you have a true default also known as a default without an agreement.

When You Don’t Need To File An FL-150 Income & Expense Declaration:

1. (exception to # 1 above) – If you have minor children and you have an uncontested divorce case, you do not need to file your income and expense declaration. Now, I am talking about an uncontested divorce in a procedural context. What I mean by uncontested divorce is this. One of the parties have filed a petition and the other party has filed a Response. That is the true definition of “uncontested” as a procedural definition.
2. If you do not have minor children – If no minor children are involved, you do not need to file your FL-150 income and expense declaration. It does not matter if your case is uncontested (response filed) or you have a default with agreement type divorce case.

Remember, we are talking about an amicable divorce in California and discussing procedural aspects here. Non of this will apply if you have a contested case where attorneys are involved or you are going to hearings or to trial. In these cases you will likely be filing your income and expense declaration for a variety of reasons and possibly multiple times.

If you are going through a divorce in California and need assistance, we do offer a full service divorce solution throughout California.