California Form FL-155: Eligibility, Filling Out, and Filing

California Form FL-155, the Financial Statement (Simplified), is the short-form financial disclosure you file with the family court when child support is the only money question in your case. You fill it in, attach your last two months of pay stubs and your most recent federal tax return, have someone else serve a copy on the other parent, and file the original with the court clerk. The form only works for straightforward finances. If spousal support, attorney fees, or self-employment income are in play, you need the longer Income and Expense Declaration (Form FL-150) instead.

Can You Use FL-155 at All

Page one of the form itself prints a screening checklist. Answer “yes” to any of its questions and you are disqualified from using FL-155. The disqualifiers fall into three groups.

Spousal support or attorney fees are at issue. If either side is asking for spousal support, a change in spousal support, or payment of attorney fees, FL-155 is off the table.
You are self-employed or own a business. The court needs the profit-and-loss detail that only FL-150 provides.
Your income comes from something outside the listed categories. FL-155 only works if your income is limited to salary or wages, unemployment, workers’ compensation, disability, social security, retirement, interest, or public assistance like TANF or General Relief. Rental income, royalties, or stock sales push you to FL-150.

California Rules of Court, Rule 5.260 reinforces the same boundary: FL-155 is “not appropriate for use in proceedings to determine or modify spousal or domestic partner support, to determine or modify family support, or to determine attorney’s fees and costs.”¹ Use the wrong form and the judge may continue your hearing until you refile on FL-150, adding weeks to your case.

What to Gather Before You Start

Pull your documents together before you open the PDF. A missing attachment gives the court a reason to disregard your income figures at the hearing.

Every pay stub from the last two months. If you are paid weekly, that is eight or nine stubs, not just the latest one.
Your most recent federal income tax return. The form specifically asks for the federal return, not state, and the current year’s.
Your employer’s name, address, and phone number, plus your job title and start date.
Monthly dollar figures for childcare, uninsured medical costs for the children, health insurance premiums, union dues, mandatory retirement contributions, housing, and any existing child or spousal support you pay from another relationship.

Download the current fillable PDF from the California Courts self-help site.² Confirm you have the latest revision, since courts sometimes reject outdated versions.

Filling Out the Form

At the top, enter your name, the other party’s name, and your case number. If you are filing FL-155 with a brand-new petition and do not have a case number yet, leave that field blank. The clerk assigns one when you file.

Screening and Custody

Work through the eligibility checklist honestly. If you check “yes” on any line, stop and switch to FL-150. Below the checklist, enter the number of children from the relationship, the percentage of time the children spend with each parent, and a short description of your custody and visitation arrangement.

Income

Report your current gross monthly income, meaning the total before taxes and deductions. The form breaks this into separate lines for salary or wages, retirement, unemployment compensation, workers’ compensation, social security, disability, and interest. If your only income is TANF, SSI, or General Assistance, check that box instead of itemizing.³

Below the income lines, list your employer’s contact information, your occupation, and the date you started that job. If you recently stopped working, enter the date work ended and the gross income you were earning before it ended. You will also estimate the other parent’s gross monthly income (your best reasonable guess), and, if you have remarried, your current spouse’s monthly income.

Expenses and Deductions

The expense section captures the categories the child support calculation uses to turn your gross income into net disposable income.

Child-related costs: daycare or preschool that lets you work, uninsured healthcare for the children, school or special-needs expenses, and travel costs for visitation.
Employment deductions: unreimbursed job expenses (explain on a separate sheet), required union dues, and mandatory retirement contributions other than Social Security or voluntary plans like a 401(k).
Insurance and support: health insurance premiums you pay, plus any court-ordered child or spousal support you already pay from a different relationship.
Housing: monthly rent or mortgage. For a mortgage, break out the interest portion and property taxes separately.

If you want to give the court a fuller picture of your spending, you can attach page 3 of Form FL-150. FL-155 explicitly allows this as an optional attachment.³

Additional Information and Signature

The last section gives you room to tell the court anything else that matters for child support: unusual circumstances, anticipated income changes, special needs. Use an extra sheet if you need more space. Then sign and date. Your signature is a declaration under penalty of perjury. Intentional misrepresentation can lead to sanctions.

Redact Before You File

Before you make copies of your tax return and pay stubs, redact sensitive numbers. California Rules of Court, Rule 1.201 requires parties to limit Social Security numbers and financial account numbers to the last four digits on any document filed in the court’s public file.⁴ The clerk does not check your documents for compliance. The responsibility is yours. Use a black marker or a digital redaction tool on the original before you copy. If the court needs complete numbers, you can file a confidential reference list on Form MC-120 with a court order.

Serving the Other Parent

You cannot hand the paperwork to the other parent yourself. Someone who is at least 18 and not a party to the case has to deliver or mail it. The service package includes one copy of your completed FL-155, one copy of every pay stub from the last two months, and one copy of your most recent federal tax return. If the local child support agency is involved in your case, they get the full package too.³

After serving, your server completes a proof of service. Use Form FL-330 for personal hand delivery or Form FL-335 for service by mail.⁵ Without a completed proof of service on file, the court can refuse to consider your financial information at the hearing.

Deadlines

When FL-155 goes with a Request for Order (Form FL-300), service by mail must happen at least 16 court days plus 5 calendar days before the hearing. For personal delivery, it is 16 court days before the hearing. If the other parent is out of state, add 10 calendar days instead of 5. Outside the country, add 20.⁶ Miss the deadline and you will probably have to reschedule.

Electronic Service

If both parties consent, service can go by email or through an approved electronic filing service provider instead of by mail. Consent is given either by filing a notice with the court or by agreeing to a provider’s terms of service. Either party can use Form EFS-005-CV to formally consent and list an electronic service address.⁷ The contents of what you serve do not change: the other parent still receives the FL-155, the pay stubs, and the tax return.

Filing With the Clerk

After service, file the original FL-155 with the court clerk. Staple a copy of each pay stub from the last two months to the form when you file. Keep a second complete set for yourself to bring to the hearing.³

FL-155 has no separate filing fee of its own. The underlying motion or petition does. An initial family law petition runs $435 to $450 depending on the county, and a Request for Order filed in an open case carries a $60 motion fee.⁸ If you cannot afford the fee, submit Form FW-001 to request a waiver. You qualify automatically if you receive CalWORKs, Medi-Cal, SSI, food stamps, or General Assistance, and you may qualify based on household income as well.⁹

Many California courts now accept or require electronic filing for family law cases, especially from attorneys. Self-represented parties can usually e-file voluntarily through a court-approved provider. Check your local court’s website, because the rules vary by county.

What the Judge Does With Your Numbers

The judge feeds the income and deduction figures from both parents’ financial statements into the California child support guideline formula in Family Code Section 4055.¹⁰ The formula weighs each parent’s net disposable income and the share of time the children spend with each parent, and it produces a presumptively correct support amount. Net disposable income starts from gross income and subtracts federal and state taxes, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory union dues, required retirement contributions, health insurance premiums, and existing support obligations for other children or a former spouse.

If the judge concludes that FL-155 does not capture your financial picture, the court can order you to file FL-150 and continue the hearing to give you time. That delay is avoidable. Check every line, attach every required document, and get the proof of service on file before your hearing date.

1
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court 2026 – Rule 5.260 General Provisions Regarding Support Cases
2
California Courts. Financial Statement (Simplified)
3
Judicial Council of California. Financial Statement (Simplified)
4
California Courts. Rule 1.201 Protection of Privacy
5
Judicial Council of California. Proof of Personal Service
6
California Courts. Serve Your Request for Order by Mail
7
Judicial Branch of California. Rule 2.251 Electronic Service
8
California Courts. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule
9
Judicial Council of California. Request to Waive Court Fees
10
California Legislative Information. California Family Code 4055 – Statewide Uniform Guideline