If you have filed for divorce in Florida, or you have just been served, you will hear the phrase mandatory disclosure early. It is not a request from the other side, and you do not have to be asked for it. It is an automatic exchange of financial information required in nearly every Florida family law case, governed by Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.285.
Within 45 days of service of the initial pleading on the respondent, each party must serve the other with a sworn financial affidavit and a defined set of financial records. The affidavit cannot be waived by the parties. Most of the supporting documents can be, by agreement or by court order. Each party then files a certificate of compliance stating what was produced and when.
Why the rule exists
A judge cannot divide property, set child support, or decide a support award on guesses about income and assets, and neither can two people trying to settle. The rule puts both households on the table at the start, and it is what lets you see the other side's accounts and returns, which matters in any case involving property division or a business interest.
When it is due
- Initial and supplemental proceedings. Documents must be served within 45 days of service of the initial pleading on the respondent.
- Temporary financial relief hearings. The party seeking relief serves at least 10 days before the hearing. A responding party not seeking relief serves at least 5 days before.
- Extensions. The parties can agree to more time, or either can move to enlarge it before the due date, and the court must grant that motion for good cause shown.
- Objections. An objection must be served in writing at least 5 days before disclosure is due or it is waived. A timely objection filed with a notice of hearing stays disclosure for what it covers, and frivolous objections must be sanctioned.
The financial affidavit and the $50,000 line
Which affidavit you complete depends on your gross annual income. Under $50,000, you use the short form, Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure Form 12.902(b). At $50,000 or more, you use Form 12.902(c). The parties cannot waive this. The other side may ask through the Standard Family Law Interrogatories, or the court may order on its own motion, that a party under the threshold complete the longer form anyway. The documents behind every figure on the affidavit must be produced as well.
If both parties agree, they may file a notice of joint verified waiver of filing financial affidavits, and the affidavits stay out of the court file. They are still prepared, sworn, and exchanged. The notice requires both parties to acknowledge that keeping copies is solely their own responsibility, that the waiver covers only the current filing, and that either party may revoke it at any time.
The document checklist
For an initial or supplemental request for permanent financial relief, each party must serve the following.
- Complete federal and state personal income tax returns, gift tax returns, and foreign tax returns for the past 3 years, with every attachment, schedule, and worksheet.
- W-2, 1099, and K-1 forms for the past year if that return is not prepared yet, and for the 2 prior years if those returns were never filed.
- Pay stubs or other evidence of earned income for the 6 months before you comply, plus a statement of the amount and source of any income in that period the stubs do not show.
- Loan applications, financial statements, credit reports, and financial aid forms prepared or used in the past 24 months.
- Deeds for any ownership interest in property held in the last 3 years, promissory notes or other documents showing money owed to you in the last 24 months, and all current leases.
- Twelve months of statements for every checking, savings, money market, and certificate of deposit account, including accounts since closed, plus canceled checks and registers for accounts with check writing privileges.
- Twelve months of brokerage account statements.
- The most recent statement and 12 months of statements for any retirement, pension, profit sharing, or deferred compensation plan, such as an IRA, 401(k), or 403(b), plus the summary plan description.
- The most recent statement and 12 months of statements for any virtual currency activity, plus a list of current holdings.
- For every life insurance policy on your life or your spouse's life, the declarations page, the certificate, and 12 months of statements, plus current health and dental insurance cards.
- Corporate, partnership, and trust tax returns for the last 3 tax years if you hold an interest.
- Promissory notes for your debts over the last 24 months, credit card and charge account statements showing what you owed at filing and for the 24 months before, and all present leases.
- All written premarital or marital agreements between you, and any affidavits or declarations of non-paternity or judgments of disestablishment for children born or conceived during the marriage.
- Documents supporting any claim that an asset or debt is nonmarital, that nonmarital property was enhanced, or that distribution should be unequal.
- Any court order directing you to pay or receive spousal or child support.
In a modification case, add every written agreement the two of you have entered into since the order you are asking the court to change.
What can be waived and what cannot
Except for the child support guidelines worksheet provisions, any portion of the rule may be modified by agreement of the parties or by order of the court. Copies may be produced instead of originals, and only the affidavit and the worksheet go into the court file. The rest stays between the parties unless a judge orders otherwise.
Two floors do not move. The financial affidavit requirement cannot be waived by the parties. And if the case involves child support, a Child Support Guidelines Worksheet in substantial conformity with Form 12.902(e) must be filed at or before the hearing to establish or modify support.
The rule does not apply at all to adoption, simplified dissolution, enforcement, contempt, injunctions against domestic, repeat, dating, or sexual violence or stalking, or uncontested dissolutions where the respondent was served by publication and never answered. A narrow exemption also covers a simplified dissolution with no minor children, no support issues, and a written settlement agreement resolving all financial issues, or a case where the court has no jurisdiction over financial issues.
The obligation does not end when you hand over the box
The duty is continuing. Both parties must supplement everything the rule covers, including the affidavit, whenever a material change in financial circumstances occurs, and serve the documents behind any amendment. A bonus, a job change, a sold house: tell your attorney.
What happens if a party does not comply
A document not served within the required time before a nonfinal hearing, or withheld in violation of a pretrial order, is not admissible at that hearing unless the court finds good cause. A party who ignored disclosure can reach a temporary support hearing unable to put their own evidence in front of the judge.
The court may also impose the discovery sanctions available under Rule 12.380, and may impose them on the lawyer instead of the party. Every party subject to mandatory disclosure must file a certificate of compliance, Form 12.932, identifying what was delivered and certifying the date of service, sworn under oath as complete and accurate. That is testimony in written form, and it deserves the same care.
If your case is in Tampa
Family cases here are filed in the Hillsborough County Circuit Court, Family Law Division, at the George Edgecomb Courthouse, 800 E. Twiggs Street. Most contested cases are referred to mediation before a final hearing, and mediation only works if both sides already have the other's numbers. The mediator is neutral and represents neither spouse. Your attorney is the one representing you.
What to do next
Start one folder, digital or paper, with 3 years of tax returns, 12 months of account statements, and 6 months of pay stubs. Then work through the list above with your attorney, who can tell you what your case needs and whether narrowing the exchange makes sense.
If you are early in a Tampa divorce and the 45 day clock is already running, the next step is a conversation about what your case requires, before the deadline becomes a motion.