Form FL-144, the Stipulation and Waiver of Final Declaration of Disclosure, is a short Judicial Council form that lets divorcing California spouses jointly agree to skip the final round of financial disclosure before the court enters judgment. California Family Code section 2105(d) permits that waiver only when both spouses declare, under penalty of perjury, that they have already satisfied their other disclosure obligations.1California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 2105 It is a common step in uncontested divorces, but every statement on the form is sworn, and signing it narrows your options if something later turns out to have been hidden.
What You Must Have Already Done Before Signing
The waiver is not a way around financial transparency. It’s a sworn statement that transparency has already happened. Section 2105(d) requires both spouses to make five specific representations on the form.1California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 2105
- Both spouses have completed and exchanged preliminary declarations of disclosure under Family Code section 2104. The preliminary disclosure cannot be waived by agreement. It includes a full inventory of every asset and debt each spouse has or may have an interest in, an Income and Expense Declaration, and the prior two years of tax returns.2California Legislative Information. California Family Code Section 2104
- Both spouses have exchanged current Income and Expense Declarations covering all material facts about earnings, accumulations, and expenses.
- Both spouses have fully complied with Family Code section 2102, which imposes an ongoing duty to disclose material changes from the date of separation until assets and debts are distributed. Anything significant that changed after the preliminary disclosure—a new investment, a major expense, a change in income—had to be disclosed before the waiver was signed.3California Legislative Information. California Family Code Section 2102
- Each spouse enters the waiver knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. A waiver signed under pressure or without understanding can be challenged.
- Each spouse understands the waiver confirms that disclosure duties have been fulfilled and does not erase them. Noncompliance can still cost you the judgment.
If any of these representations is not accurate for your case, do not sign. The final disclosure exists precisely to catch what the preliminary one missed, and swearing that everything is in order when it isn’t is perjury.
What Signing Does Not Get Rid Of
The continuing duty of disclosure under section 2102 survives the waiver. That duty runs from the date of separation until each community asset or debt is actually distributed. It requires immediate, full, and accurate updates whenever there is a material change to assets, debts, income, or expenses.3California Legislative Information. California Family Code Section 2102
Section 2102 also requires disclosure of any investment or business opportunity that arises after separation if it grew out of activity during the marriage, with enough notice for the other spouse to decide whether to participate. Waiving FL-144 does not touch any of that. It only means both spouses are swearing they have already met those obligations.
Filling Out and Filing FL-144
The form itself is short. Both petitioner and respondent read the five representations, sign under penalty of perjury, and date it.4Judicial Council of California. Stipulation and Waiver of Final Declaration of Disclosure Section 2105(d) allows the waiver to be executed in open court or as a separate written stipulation.1California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 2105
Once both spouses have signed, the form goes to the court clerk in the county where the divorce is pending. In most cases it’s filed as part of the final judgment packet rather than by itself. There is no separate filing fee for the stipulation. Whether you file electronically or in person depends on county procedures. After filing, you should get a conformed copy back, which is your proof that the waiver was accepted and the judge can move forward on the judgment.
If Your Spouse Never Responded to the Petition
FL-144 is a mutual stipulation, so it requires two signatures. If your spouse defaulted, you don’t need one. Family Code section 2110 lets the petitioner in a true default case waive the final declaration of disclosure unilaterally, and neither side has to serve a final disclosure on the other.5California Legislative Information. California Family Code Section 2110 The petitioner still has to complete the preliminary declaration of disclosure in most default scenarios, with a narrow exception when the summons was served by publication or posting and the respondent never filed anything.
If You Sign and Later Discover a Problem
Signing FL-144 makes challenging the judgment harder, not impossible. Family Code section 2122 sets out the grounds and deadlines for setting aside all or part of a divorce judgment.6California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 2122
- Fraud, where one spouse was kept in the dark or prevented from participating. Deadline: one year from when you discovered or should have discovered the fraud.
- Perjury on the waiver, the preliminary disclosure, or the income and expense declaration. Deadline: one year from discovery.
- Duress or mental incapacity. Deadline: two years from the judgment.
- Mistake of law or fact, mutual or unilateral, in a stipulated or uncontested judgment. Deadline: one year from the date of judgment.
- Failure to comply with disclosure requirements the spouse swore they had met. Deadline: one year from discovery.
A court can also limit the set-aside to the portions of the judgment materially affected by the nondisclosure rather than unwinding the whole divorce.1California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 2105 The burden sits with the spouse asking to reopen the case. The court presumes the waiver was proper, and you’ll need evidence to overcome that presumption.
When It Makes Sense to Sign, and When to Hold Off
For couples with straightforward finances who have already shared everything through the preliminary disclosure and kept each other current on changes, the waiver saves paperwork without giving up much. The final disclosure largely repeats information already exchanged, and in a cooperative uncontested divorce it can feel redundant.
The picture changes when one spouse controlled the finances during the marriage, when the estate includes business interests, stock options, or other assets that are hard to value, or when anything about the preliminary disclosure felt incomplete. In those cases, the final disclosure is a second chance to catch what the first pass missed. Waiving it removes that check. Relief under section 2122 is available if a hidden account or asset surfaces later, but proving the case after signing away the process designed to catch exactly that problem is an uphill fight. If you have any doubt about what your spouse has disclosed, the safer move is to insist on the final declaration.