Declaration of Disclosure

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FAQ’s Related to Declaration of Disclosure

A Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure consist of a collection of four court forms: 1) Declaration of Disclosure (FL-140); 2) Schedule of Assets and Debts (FL-142); 3) Income and Expense Declaration (FL-150); and 4) Declaration Regarding Service (FL-141).

The purpose of these four forms is to make certain everyone lays their cards on the table before entering into any settlement agreement. The forms are designed to force both parties to disclose information about assets, debts, and income. The courts require both parties to fill out these disclosure forms to ensure that nobody is cheated when it comes to reaching a settlement agreement.

On this form, you list all of your assets, indicating the amount each asset is worth and whether the assets are community property or separate property. You also list all of your debts, showing how much is owed. The idea is this: If you are going to ask your spouse to sign a settlement agreement dividing up all the property and debts, they are entitled to know what assets exist, what those assets are worth, as well as what debts exists, and how much is owed in regards to each debt.

On this form you will list all of your income. It lists a lot of other information, including your monthly expenses, information about your employment, your education, etc. However, the most important information is the amount of your income. If you are going to ask your spouse to enter into a settlement agreement that contains provisions for child support and/or spousal support, your spouse is entitled to know how much money you earn before they sign any settlement agreement.

After you fill out your preliminary declaration of disclosure documents, you are required to give copies to your spouse. Your spouse also has to fill out his or her own disclosure documents and give you copies. The court will generally not approve a divorce judgment until both parties have completed their disclosure documents and provided copies to the other side.

You are supposed to fill out the disclosure forms twice, once during the initial stages of the divorce and again at the end of the divorce. When you fill out your disclosure documents at the beginning of the divorce, this is called your “Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure”. The second time you fill out the disclosure documents is at the end of the divorce. This is called your “Final Declaration of Disclosure”.

You must fill out your Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure. Filling it out is mandatory. However, you and your spouse can waive filling out the Final Declaration of Disclosure.

Your Preliminary Declaration of Disclosure documents should be completed and served on your spouse within 60 days of the date you filed your divorce Petition with the court.

All four of the Declaration of Disclosure forms are in our court forms database and they are all free.

Your FL-141, which is the cover sheet, and your FL-142, which is the Schedule of Assets & Debts, are not filed with the court. The FL-150, which is the Income & Expense Declaration, and the FL-141, which is the Declaration Regarding Service, are filed with the court.

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