California Form FL-157, the Spousal or Domestic Partner Support Declaration Attachment, is the Judicial Council form you use to walk a judge through every factor the court must weigh before setting long-term spousal or partner support. It sits alongside your Income and Expense Declaration (Form FL-150): FL-150 reports the numbers, and FL-157 explains the marriage behind them. The form is approved for optional use, but filing it gives the court a structured record that you’ve addressed each factor California law requires.1Superior Court of California, County of Orange. Information Sheet for Request for Order (Family Law)
When FL-157 Applies
FL-157 is built for permanent support decisions, not temporary ones. Temporary support, ordered while a case is still pending, is calculated mostly from each party’s income and need, and judges can use a guideline calculator to reach a number. Permanent support works differently. At judgment, the court cannot use a guideline formula and must instead evaluate every factor listed in Family Code Section 4320, including the marital standard of living, each party’s earning capacity, length of the marriage, age, health, career sacrifices, and any history of domestic violence.2California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 4320 – Factors to Be Considered in Ordering Support Every section of FL-157 maps to one of those factors.
You’d also use FL-157 when filing a Request for Order to modify an existing support arrangement — a job loss, a supported spouse who has become self-sufficient, or a significant change in health. It gives you a place to lay out the new facts against the same statutory factors the court originally considered.
What to Gather Before You Fill It Out
Have this material in front of you before you open the form:
- Your exact marriage or partnership registration date and your date of separation. The span between them drives the length-of-marriage analysis.
- Tax returns for the last two years, recent pay stubs, and any self-employment records.3California Courts. Gather and Share Financial Information
- Documentation of how you lived: mortgage statements, vehicle loans, credit card statements, investment account summaries.
- Medical records, if health affects your ability to work.
- Any domestic violence evidence — restraining orders (especially Form DV-130), police reports, criminal records, or family court findings.
- Education and employment history, including résumés, transcripts, and certifications.
- A completed Form FL-150. The financial details on FL-157 must match what you report there.
Inconsistencies between FL-150 and FL-157 are one of the fastest ways to lose credibility with the judge, so cross-check them.
Filling Out the Form Section by Section
The fillable PDF is on the California Courts website.4Judicial Council of California. FL-157 Spousal or Domestic Partner Support Declaration Attachment Each numbered item corresponds to a Section 4320 factor.
Item 1: Type of Support Request
Check whether you’re the petitioner or respondent, and whether you’re the party asking for support or the one being asked to pay. Then select the specific relief: an initial order, a modification, denial of a modification, or termination of the court’s jurisdiction to award support.
Item 2: Attorney Fees and Costs
Check this box if you want the court to order your spouse or partner to pay your attorney fees. The request ties into Family Code Section 271, which lets the court award fees as a sanction when a party’s conduct drives up litigation costs through obstruction or bad-faith tactics. You don’t need to show financial need to get a Section 271 award, but the court will consider whether the sanction would create an unreasonable burden on the other party.5California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 271
Item 3: Length of Marriage or Domestic Partnership
Enter the marriage or registration date, the separation date, and the total time between them in years and months. This entry is consequential. Under Family Code Section 4336, a marriage of ten years or more from wedding to separation is presumed to be a marriage of long duration, and the court retains jurisdiction over spousal support indefinitely.6California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code FAM 4336 Shorter marriages generally limit support to half the length of the marriage, though the court has discretion to find otherwise. If your relationship included both a domestic partnership and a marriage, the form has space to combine them. If the other side disputes your separation date, it can shift the entire support analysis, so get these dates right.
Item 4: Standard of Living
Describe how you and your spouse lived during the marriage. The form prompts you to cover the value of your home and other real estate, the vehicles you owned, vacation frequency and style, investment balances, credit card use, and retirement savings. Be concrete. “We lived comfortably” tells the judge nothing. “We owned a $750,000 home, leased two vehicles, took two international vacations per year, and contributed $15,000 annually to retirement accounts” gives the court something to work with. The marital standard of living is the benchmark for permanent support, and the more precisely you paint the picture, the better the judge can calibrate the order.
Item 5: Age and Health
Enter each party’s age and describe each party’s health. If a chronic illness, disability, or condition limits the kind of work you can do or the hours you can work, spell it out. Name the condition, describe the limitations, and reference the medical documentation you’re attaching. Vague language won’t move the needle.
Item 6: Domestic Violence History
This section asks about documented evidence of domestic violence between the parties or against either party’s child. The form lists specific categories to check: a no-contest plea, emotional distress from abuse, a Restraining Order After Hearing (Form DV-130), court findings from a family law or custody case, and other evidence of violence. Attach copies of any protective orders or criminal records. The court is required by Section 4320(i) to weigh this evidence when setting support.
Item 7: Criminal Convictions
If a spouse has been convicted of a domestic violence-related felony or misdemeanor, capture that information here. A conviction against an abusive spouse is a factor under Section 4320(m) that can increase the supported spouse’s award or reduce support to the abusive party.
Earning Capacity and Career Sacrifices
Additional sections cover each party’s earning capacity — education, job skills, employment history, and the current job market for their profession — and whether one spouse gave up career opportunities to support the other’s education, training, or career, or to care for the children. This is where stay-at-home parents and spouses who relocated for the other’s job make their case. If you left a career to raise kids for twelve years, detail what you were earning before, what skills have gone stale, and what retraining you’d need to catch up.
Tax Consequences
Section 4320(j) requires the court to consider the immediate and specific tax consequences of a support order. For any divorce or separation agreement executed after December 31, 2018, spousal support is no longer deductible by the payer or taxable to the recipient.7Internal Revenue Service. Divorce or Separation May Have an Effect on Taxes Older agreements finalized before that date still follow the prior rules (deductible for payer, taxable for recipient) unless later modified to adopt the new rules. Explain which rules apply to your situation and how the tax impact affects each side’s real-world finances.
Attachments
If the space on the form isn’t enough, attach additional pages. Label each attachment with the corresponding item number, for example “Attachment to Item 4” for the standard-of-living section. The form instructs you to do this, and judges expect it for the narrative-heavy sections.
Filing and Serving the Form
FL-157 doesn’t get filed on its own. It goes to the court clerk as part of a packet that includes your Form FL-150 and supporting documents like your last two years of tax returns. The first filing in a dissolution case carries a fee of $435 under California’s statewide civil fee schedule. If you can’t afford that, apply for a fee waiver using Form FW-001, available if you receive public benefits, have low income, or can’t cover both your basic needs and court fees.8California Courts. Request to Waive Court Fees (FW-001)
Service Deadlines
If you’re filing FL-157 as part of a Request for Order, Code of Civil Procedure Section 1005(b) controls the timing. Your moving papers must be served and filed at least 16 court days before the hearing. Add five calendar days if you serve by mail within California, or ten calendar days if one address is outside California but within the U.S.9California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1005 Opposing papers are due at least nine court days before the hearing, and any reply papers at least five court days before.
Who Serves the Papers
You cannot serve the papers yourself. An adult who isn’t a party to the case — a friend, relative, or professional process server — must handle delivery. Service can be by personal delivery or by mail, though if you’re serving initial financial disclosures alongside the petition and summons, you must use personal service.3California Courts. Gather and Share Financial Information The server fills out a Proof of Service form and files it with the court. Without that filed proof, the court won’t proceed.
Consequences of Inaccurate Disclosures
Everything on FL-157 is signed under penalty of perjury and carries the same weight as testimony. Family Code Section 2107 requires both parties to provide accurate financial disclosures. If you don’t, the other side can move to compel further responses, ask the court to block you from presenting evidence on issues you should have disclosed, or request monetary sanctions. The court is required to impose sanctions sufficient to deter the conduct, including reasonable attorney fees and costs, unless you show substantial justification for the failure.10California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 2107
The consequences can extend past judgment. Under Family Code Section 2122, a party who discovers perjury in a disclosure document has one year from the date of discovery to move to set aside the judgment.11California Legislative Information. California Code Family Code FAM 2122 A judgment that gets set aside means the support order, and potentially the property division, starts over. Be honest and thorough. The risks of fudging numbers far outweigh any short-term advantage.