If your case involves child support, spousal support, or a request for attorney fees, you’ll run into Form FL-150 — and you’ll likely need to fill it out more than once. This form comes up constantly across other topics on this site, from child support calculations to community property disclosures to spousal support, so here’s a dedicated look at what it actually requires. For every other form in a California divorce, see What Forms Do You Need to Get a Divorce in California?

Quick Answer: Form FL-150 Basics

  • FL-150 is the Income and Expense Declaration — it discloses your income, monthly expenses, assets, and debts to the court
  • Required whenever child support, spousal support, family support, or attorney fees are part of your case
  • Must generally be filed within 60 days of the petition being served, as part of preliminary disclosure
  • Must be “current” — generally filed or updated within the last three months before any support-related hearing
  • You must attach your last two months of pay stubs, and it’s signed under penalty of perjury
  • There’s no separate filing fee — it’s filed alongside forms you’re likely already submitting, like FL-100, FL-120, or FL-300

What FL-150 Actually Is

The Income and Expense Declaration is a standard, mandatory Judicial Council form that lays out your complete financial picture — income from all sources, monthly living expenses, assets, and debts. Courts use it to make informed, fair decisions about support and, in some cases, attorney fees. Both spouses generally file their own separate FL-150 — it’s not a joint form.

Because you sign it under penalty of perjury, accuracy matters here in a very literal legal sense, not just a practical one.

When You Actually Need to File It

FL-150 shows up at more points in a case than people expect:

  • Preliminary disclosure — as part of the preliminary declaration of disclosure, generally due within 60 days of the petition being served, under Family Code § 2104
  • Before any support hearing — a current FL-150 is required for hearings involving child support, spousal support, or domestic partner support
  • With a Request for Order (FL-300) — if you’re asking the court to set or change support, or to award attorney fees
  • For attorney fee requests specifically — under Family Code §§ 2030–2032, need-based fee requests require a current FL-150
  • At judgment — including many default divorce cases, where it’s filed with the final judgment paperwork

The “Current” Rule That Trips People Up

This is the detail that catches people off guard: California Rules of Court, Rule 5.260 generally requires your FL-150 to be current — meaning completed or updated within roughly the last three months (90 days) — at the time of any support-related hearing. An FL-150 you filed six months ago, even if it was accurate then, generally isn’t good enough on its own by the time a hearing actually happens.

If your financial situation genuinely hasn’t changed, some courts allow a declaration confirming no material change instead of a full refiling — but the safer, simpler approach in a DIY case is just to refile a current one before each hearing that requires it, rather than gamble on whether an exception applies to your situation.

What You Need to Attach

At minimum, you’ll generally need to attach:

  • Your last two months of pay stubs
  • Your most recent tax return, in many cases

Every line matters — indicate zero or “not applicable” explicitly rather than leaving a question blank, since blank answers can read as incomplete disclosure rather than a genuine zero.

What Happens If You Get It Wrong or Miss the Deadline

The consequences here are real, not just procedural inconvenience:

  • Filing without a current FL-150 at a support hearing often results in the hearing being continued (delayed) rather than heard as scheduled
  • Incomplete or inaccurate disclosure can lead to sanctions, or the court drawing an adverse inference against the party who under-disclosed
  • If income information is missing entirely, courts can impute income — meaning they’ll estimate what you should be earning (sometimes at minimum wage) rather than take your word that you have none

None of this is designed to be punitive for an honest mistake, but it does mean that treating this form casually, or leaving sections blank because they seem inconvenient, tends to backfire. This same disclosure discipline matters just as much when retirement accounts are part of your case, since accurate income reporting affects both support calculations and how other assets get valued.

Common Mistakes

  • Letting it go stale — filing once early in the case and not updating it before a later hearing
  • Leaving blanks instead of writing zero or “not applicable” — a blank line reads very differently to a court than an explicit zero
  • Forgetting the pay stub attachments — an otherwise complete form without its required attachments isn’t really complete
  • Not accounting for all income sources — bonuses, side income, and irregular earnings still need to be disclosed, not just a regular paycheck

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to file FL-150 even if we agree on support already? Generally yes — the disclosure requirement applies whenever support is part of the case, regardless of whether both spouses currently agree on the amount.

How is “current” measured exactly? Generally within about three months (90 days) of the relevant hearing date — check with your specific court or self-help center if you’re unsure whether yours still counts as current.

Is there a filing fee for FL-150? No separate fee — it’s filed as part of your existing case, alongside forms like FL-100, FL-120, or FL-300.

What if my income varies month to month? Disclose it as accurately as you can, including an explanation if needed — courts generally prefer a documented, honest estimate over an incomplete or misleading flat number.

Not sure where this form fits into your overall case? See The Complete California Divorce Roadmap for how every stage connects.

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Financial disclosure requirements can have real consequences if handled incorrectly — for guidance specific to your situation, consult a licensed California attorney or contact your county court’s Self-Help Center, which offers free assistance.

Sources (verified September 12, 2026):

  • FL-150 — Income and Expense Declaration — California Courts Self-Help Guide
  • Official FL-150 form packet, Judicial Council of California, Rev. September 1, 2024, listing statutory basis Family Code §§ 2030–2032, 2100–2113, 3552, 3620–3634, 4050–4076, 4300–4339
  • California Family Code § 2104 — preliminary declaration of disclosure requirements and the 60-day timing. Note: § 2104 itself doesn’t name FL-150 specifically; that connection comes from the official Judicial Council form packets that implement the disclosure requirement, which is why this article frames FL-150 as filed “as part of” preliminary disclosure rather than attributing the form directly to the statute
  • California Rules of Court, Rule 5.260 — subsection (a) requires a current FL-150 “for all hearings involving child, spousal, or domestic partner support,” and subsection (a)(3) defines “current” as “completed within the past three months providing no facts have changed”