Statement of Net Worth in NY: Deadlines, Notary, and Filing

A Statement of Net Worth in NY is the sworn financial disclosure both spouses must file in any New York divorce, separation, or annulment case where maintenance, child support, or property division is at issue. The form forces you to lay out your income, monthly expenses, assets, and debts under oath so the judge can set support and divide property. Domestic Relations Law § 236-B(4) makes it mandatory and requires no special showing before a court orders it.¹ Get the numbers right. They drive almost every financial decision in your case.

In a fully uncontested divorce where neither spouse disputes any financial issue, the statement is not always required. Most practitioners still recommend completing one, because it creates a record that both sides entered the agreement with full knowledge of the other’s finances and makes the settlement harder to challenge later.

How Long You Have to File

Two deadlines run at the same time, and the earlier one controls.

If the other spouse serves a written demand, you have twenty days to produce the statement. If no demand is served, you must file it with the court clerk within ten days after the issues are joined.¹

Separately, 22 NYCRR 202.16 schedules a preliminary conference within 45 days after the case is assigned to a judge, and both sides must exchange and file their net worth statements no later than 10 days before that conference.² That can leave as little as 35 days from assignment to pull everything together. Treat whichever deadline arrives first as your real due date.

Documents to Gather Before You Start

Pull the paperwork before you touch the form. Round-number guessing erodes credibility fast, and the court rule is specific about what has to accompany the sworn statement:

All filed state and federal income tax returns for the past three years, including returns for any partnership or closely held corporation you have an interest in.
All W-2s, 1099s, and K-1s for the past three years, every pay stub for the current year, and your last pay stub from the prior year.
Three years of statements for every account holding cash or securities: checking, savings, brokerage, money market.
Statements immediately before and after the divorce was filed for every retirement plan you have an interest in: IRAs, pensions, 401(k)s, profit-sharing plans, Keoghs.
Statements for any life insurance policy with cash or dividend surrender value, covering the period immediately before and after the action was commenced.
Details on every group health plan available to you, including plan administrator, identification numbers, and the type of coverage available for any child for whom support is sought.

The statute itself demands less (just the most recent return and a current pay stub), but the court rule’s broader list is the one you will actually be measured against.²

Filling Out Each Section of the Form

The official form is available through the New York State Unified Court System and splits your finances into income, expenses, assets, and liabilities.³ Each section has its own traps.

Income

Report gross income as it should appear on your most recent federal tax return: wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, overtime. List unearned income separately underneath, including investment returns, rental income, Social Security, disability payments, and any other recurring source. If you hold a partnership interest or own part of a closely held business, the K-1s you gathered feed directly into this section. Every number is gross, before taxes and deductions, so the court sees total earning capacity.³

Expenses

Expenses are reported monthly. The form tells you to convert weekly costs by multiplying by 4.3.⁴ Categories cover housing, utilities, food, clothing, transportation, insurance premiums, unreimbursed medical and dental costs, childcare, and household maintenance. Periodic items that don’t bill monthly, like an annual insurance premium or quarterly tuition, should be divided by twelve so they land in the monthly total accurately. If you are already living separately and your costs have changed, note that on the form.

This is where people hurt themselves. Lowballing to look self-sufficient can backfire when you later ask the court for maintenance. Inflating numbers will crumble the first time the other side pulls your bank statements. Work from receipts and account records, not memory.

Assets

List everything of value: real estate, vehicles, bank and investment accounts, retirement funds, jewelry, art, business interests, anything else. The form does not ask you to label items as marital or separate, but the distinction will matter in equitable distribution. Marital property is generally what was acquired during the marriage regardless of whose name is on it; separate property covers what you owned before the marriage, inheritances, and personal injury awards. For a closely held business, the court will eventually need a professional valuation rather than your estimate, and starting that process early helps your position.

You also have to disclose every asset you transferred during the preceding three years, or the length of the marriage if shorter. Routine exchanges of equivalent value in the ordinary course of business are exempt from detailed disclosure, but everything else must be listed.¹ This is the court’s main tool for catching hidden assets and pre-divorce transfers.

Liabilities

Every debt goes here: mortgage balances, home equity lines, car loans, student loans, credit card balances, personal loans, tax obligations. For each, list the creditor, current balance, and monthly payment. Debts are subtracted from assets to produce your net worth. Leaving a debt off might feel appealing, but it means the court won’t account for it when dividing property, which usually costs you more than disclosing would have.

Signing in Front of a Notary

The Statement of Net Worth is a sworn affidavit. You sign under penalty of perjury, and the form says so.³ That signature has to be made in front of a notary public, who verifies your identity and administers the oath. Under New York Executive Law § 136, a notary can charge $2 for administering an oath and certifying it.⁵ Banks, shipping stores, and law offices all offer the service.

Don’t treat signing as a formality. Once your name is on the form, every number is a sworn statement of fact.

Filing and Exchanging With the Other Side

File the completed, notarized statement with the court where the action is pending, and exchange a copy with the other spouse or their attorney at the same time. The court rule uses the word “exchanged” deliberately: both sides hand over their statements simultaneously so neither party sees the other’s finances before committing their own numbers to paper.²

Once filed, your statement becomes the baseline for the preliminary conference, where the judge sets the discovery schedule and addresses temporary maintenance or attorney-fee advances. The judge uses your stated income and expenses to decide those temporary orders. Errors can translate into real dollars within weeks.

Updating the Statement if Things Change

Divorces often run long, and finances shift. The court rules require a supplemental statement reflecting any material changes to a previously filed version.² A job loss, a raise, significant new debt, or the sale of an asset all qualify. Not updating creates the same exposure as filing an inaccurate statement in the first place.

What Happens if You Miss the Deadline or Hide Something

DRL § 236-B(4) says noncompliance is punishable by any or all of the penalties in CPLR § 3126, which gives the court broad discretion.¹ Those penalties include:

Resolving disputed financial questions in the other spouse’s favor.
Barring you from introducing evidence, calling witnesses, or opposing the other side’s claims on the issues you failed to disclose.
Striking your pleadings entirely, staying the proceedings until you comply, or entering a default judgment against you.

Those are the civil consequences.⁶ Because the form is signed under penalty of perjury, intentional lies can also support a charge of perjury in the second degree, a class E felony in New York.⁷ Criminal prosecution in a divorce is rare, but the possibility gives judges leverage and gives the other side a powerful tool if they catch you hiding assets.

A Note on Privacy

Filing the statement puts deeply personal financial information into a court record. New York’s general redaction rule, Uniform Rule § 202.5(e), requires parties to redact Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, dates of birth, and minors’ full names from court filings, but matrimonial actions are specifically exempted.⁸ The exemption exists because the court needs full account numbers and identifying details to trace assets and enforce orders. You can ask the court to seal certain financial documents under 22 NYCRR 216.1(a) by showing good cause, but the burden is on you, the other spouse can oppose, and sealing is granted sparingly.

1
New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law Section 236 – Special Controlling Provisions; Equitable Distribution
2
Legal Information Institute. 22 NYCRR 202.16 – Matrimonial Actions; Calendar Control of Financial Disclosure
3
New York State Unified Court System. Statement of Net Worth
4
New York State Unified Court System. Statement of Net Worth
5
New York State Senate. New York Executive Law Section 136 – Notarial Fees
6
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Section 3126 – Penalties for Refusal to Comply With Order or to Disclose
7
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law Section 210.10 – Perjury in the Second Degree
8
New York State Unified Court System. Omission or Redaction of Confidential Personal Information