How to Fill Out California Form FL-150: Income, Expenses, and Filing

To fill out California Form FL-150, the Income and Expense Declaration, work through the form page by page with your pay stubs, tax return, and monthly bills in front of you: page one covers employment and tax status, page two reports every source of income and your payroll deductions, page three itemizes your monthly expenses, and page four handles child-support-specific information if your case involves shared children. California Family Code Section 2100 requires both parties in a divorce, legal separation, parentage, or support proceeding to make a full and accurate disclosure of income, expenses, assets, and liabilities, so the numbers you put on this form need to match the documents behind them.1California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 2100

Gather Your Documents First

Pull these together before you open the form:

  • Pay stubs from the last two months. The form requires you to attach copies, with your Social Security number blacked out.2Judicial Council of California. Income and Expense Declaration
  • Your most recent federal tax return. You don’t attach it, but bring a copy to the hearing with your Social Security number redacted.
  • Proof of other income: award letters for Social Security, disability, unemployment, or public assistance; rental income records; investment statements.
  • If self-employed, a profit and loss statement for the last two years, or your Schedule C from your most recent tax return.
  • Monthly bills and receipts: mortgage or rent, utilities, insurance premiums, childcare invoices, and anything else that documents what you actually spend.

Working from records rather than memory is what keeps the form defensible. Judges notice round numbers, and opposing counsel will use estimated figures to chip away at your credibility.

Page One: Employment, Tax Status, and Deductions

The top of page one asks for your employer’s name and address, your occupation, and the date you started the job.2Judicial Council of California. Income and Expense Declaration If you are unemployed, enter the date your last job ended and the reason you left. A court evaluating your earning capacity will look closely at both.

Page one also asks for your tax filing status — single, head of household, married filing jointly, or married filing separately — and the number of exemptions you claim. These entries feed into the court’s calculation of your net disposable income for support purposes.

Page Two: Reporting Every Source of Income

Page two lists income categories including wages, commissions, bonuses, rental income, dividends, pensions, Social Security retirement benefits, and disability payments. For each one, enter two numbers: what you received last month, and your average monthly amount over the past twelve months. To calculate the average, add up everything you received in that category during the last twelve months and divide by twelve.

Some categories have their own dedicated lines. Public assistance such as TANF, SSI, and General Assistance goes on item 5d. Social Security retirement benefits go on item 5h. Disability benefits go on item 5i, with checkboxes for Social Security disability, State Disability Insurance (SDI), and private insurance disability.2Judicial Council of California. Income and Expense Declaration Report every stream of income, even one you think shouldn’t count. The court decides what to include in the support calculation.

Page two also walks through payroll deductions that reduce your gross income to take-home pay: required union dues, mandatory retirement contributions (not voluntary 401(k) or IRA deposits), health insurance premiums, state and federal tax withholding, and Social Security or Medicare deductions. Gross income minus these deductions is the figure the court treats as your monthly income available for support and expenses.

Page Three: Itemizing Monthly Expenses

Page three is where filers most often go wrong, either understating or padding the numbers. The categories are:

  • Housing: rent or mortgage, property taxes, homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, maintenance and repair.
  • Health care not covered by insurance.
  • Child care allowing you to work or attend job training.
  • Food: groceries and household supplies on one line, eating out on another.
  • Utilities: gas, electric, water, trash.
  • Communication: phone, cell phone, email service.
  • Personal: laundry and cleaning, clothing, education.
  • Transportation: auto insurance, gas, repairs, public transit.
  • Other: life and accident insurance, savings and investments, charitable contributions, entertainment, gifts, vacation.2Judicial Council of California. Income and Expense Declaration

Enter what you actually spend. If someone else pays part of your expenses, such as a new partner covering half the rent, item 13s asks for that amount. The court reads it carefully because it affects how much support you actually need. Inflating expenses or omitting contributions from others is one of the fastest ways to lose credibility with a judge.

Page Four: Child Support Information

Page four applies only when child support is at issue. Enter the number of children you share with the other parent and the approximate percentage of time each child spends with you versus the other parent. If there is no agreed schedule yet, describe the current arrangement in the space provided.2Judicial Council of California. Income and Expense Declaration

Report whether health insurance for the children is available through your employer, and if so, the monthly cost to you (not the portion your employer pays). Additional child-related expenses have their own lines: childcare needed for you to work, uninsured medical costs, travel for visitation, and educational or special-needs expenses.

Item 19 is for special hardships, including extraordinary health costs, major uninsured losses, and expenses for children from other relationships who live with you. If you claim hardship, attach documentation such as medical bills or a court order from the other child support case, and explain in writing why these expenses create an extreme financial burden. Courts can reduce a guideline support amount for hardship, but only when the documentation backs the claim.

If You Are Self-Employed

Self-employed filers have an extra documentation requirement. Attach a profit and loss statement for the last two years or a Schedule C from your most recent federal tax return, with your Social Security number blacked out.2Judicial Council of California. Income and Expense Declaration Under Family Code Section 4058, business income means gross receipts reduced by the expenditures required to operate the business, not gross revenue and not a net figure artificially deflated by personal expenses run through the business.3California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 4058

If your income fluctuates because of seasonal work, freelance projects, or commissions, the twelve-month averaging built into page two is meant to smooth out the swings. Fill in both the “last month” and “average monthly” columns honestly. A single high-earning month doesn’t define your income, and neither does cherry-picking a slow one.

If You Are Unemployed or Underemployed

If you are voluntarily unemployed or working below your capacity, the court can impute income to you, meaning it assigns an earning figure based on what you could earn rather than what you actually earn. Under Family Code Section 4058, the court considers your employment history, job skills, education, age, health, criminal record, and the local job market, and weighs whether imputing income is consistent with the children’s best interests, including the time you spend with them.3California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 4058

One statutory limit: incarceration or involuntary institutionalization cannot be treated as voluntary unemployment when setting or modifying support, regardless of the offense.3California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 4058 If you are unemployed for reasons beyond your control, document your job search and any barriers to employment. That evidence helps persuade a judge not to impute income above what you can realistically earn.

Redact Personal Information Before Attaching Documents

The form instructs you to black out your Social Security number on every attached document, including pay stubs, tax returns, and profit and loss statements.2Judicial Council of California. Income and Expense Declaration Use a thick marker on paper copies or redaction tools on digital files before attaching anything. Redact financial account numbers to the last four digits as well. Family law files can become part of the public court record, and unredacted information creates a real identity theft risk.

Filing, Serving, and Keeping the Form Current

File the completed FL-150 with the court clerk in the county where your case is pending. After filing, serve a copy on the other party so they can review your financial claims. Service by mail is standard for this form, though personal service works too. The petitioner must serve their preliminary declaration of disclosure, which typically includes FL-150, within 60 days of filing the petition. The respondent has 60 days from filing the response.4California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 2104 These deadlines can be extended by written agreement or court order.

Whoever performs the service completes a proof of service: Form FL-330 for personal service or Form FL-335 for service by mail.5Judicial Council of California. Proof of Personal Service File the completed proof with the court. Without it, you haven’t officially shown the other side received notice.

An FL-150 goes stale. Under California Rules of Court, Rule 5.260, an Income and Expense Declaration is “current” only if it was completed within the past three months and no material facts have changed since then.6Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 5.260 – General Provisions Regarding Support Cases If your on-file FL-150 is older than three months when a support hearing comes up, file and serve a fresh one. A job loss, a raise, a new source of income, or a large shift in expenses also warrants an update, even if less than three months have passed.

What Happens If the Numbers Are Wrong

The penalties for inaccurate or missing disclosures are not abstract. Family Code Section 2107 directs the court to impose monetary sanctions on a noncomplying party sufficient to deter the behavior, including the other side’s reasonable attorney fees and costs.7California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 2107 The court can skip sanctions only where the noncomplying party acted with substantial justification or sanctions would be unjust, and that is a high bar.

If a judgment is entered despite a party’s failure to comply, Family Code Section 2107(d) requires the court to set that judgment aside, treating the failure as something other than harmless error.7California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 2107 A final divorce decree can be reopened months or years later if one party hid income or assets on FL-150.

Under Family Code Section 2122, a motion to set aside a judgment based on perjury in a disclosure form must be brought within one year of the date the other party discovered, or should have discovered, the perjury. The same one-year window applies to motions based on a general failure to comply with disclosure requirements.8California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 2122 The clock starts when the problem is discovered, not when the judgment was entered, so hidden assets don’t become safe just because time passes.