Guide · DivorceThe Florida financial affidavit: what it is and how to get it right.

Florida’s mandatory disclosure rule requires a financial affidavit in substantial conformity with Form 12.902(b) if the party’s gross annual income is less than $50,000, or Form 12.902(c) if it is $50,000 or more, and the parties cannot waive it.¹ The form instructions put the test as your individual gross income.²³ Spouses in the same case can therefore file different forms.

	Short form, 12.902(b)	Long form, 12.902(c)
Who uses it	Individual gross annual income under $50,000	Individual gross annual income of $50,000 or more
Current revision	October 2021	June 2025
Expenses	Grouped categories: household, automobile, children, insurance, other, creditors	Itemized lines numbered to 120, including additional households, subscriptions, gambling and vacations
Assets	Broad categories: cash, stocks and notes, real estate, vehicles, retirement, other	Itemized lines including digital wallets, virtual currency, NFTs, business interests with percentage owned, and collectibles
Marital and nonmarital	One value column, with boxes to mark an item nonmarital and whose it is	Separate marital and nonmarital value columns; an equitable distribution schedule may be attached instead
Contingent items	Possible assets and liabilities, such as a bonus or inheritance	Contingent assets such as stock options, and contingent liabilities such as attorney’s fees

A party under $50,000 can be required to complete the long form by interrogatory or court order.

Source: Rule 12.285(e)(1)¹; Form 12.902(b)²; Form 12.902(c)³

Who does not need one

The rule excuses the affidavit in a simplified dissolution, where the parties have no minor children, no support issues and a written settlement of all financial issues, or where the court lacks jurisdiction over financial issues.¹ Spouses can also file a joint verified waiver, but only after each has given the other a fully executed, sworn affidavit; the waiver applies to the current filing only and either party can revoke it.¹

Both forms follow the same structure: income, deductions, monthly expenses, assets, liabilities and contingent items.²³ Every amount must be monthly.

Income and deductions

Income lines cover salary, bonuses and commissions, business income, disability, pension, Social Security, alimony received, interest, rental income, royalties and trusts, and reimbursed expenses or in-kind payments to the extent they reduce your living costs. Business and rental income are entered as gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses, with an itemized sheet attached.³ Deductions are limited to taxes, FICA, Medicare, mandatory union dues and retirement contributions, your own health insurance, and court-ordered support you actually pay; the result is your present net monthly income.³

Expenses

Expenses are average monthly figures. If an amount is a projection rather than what you pay now, the form tells you to write “estimate” next to it.³ The long form ends with a summary that subtracts total expenses from net income and shows a surplus or deficit.³

Assets and liabilities

List every asset and debt owned by you, or by your spouse in an original dissolution, using only the last four digits of account numbers.³ On the long form, put the fair market value of marital assets in one column and the value you believe is nonmarital in another; the two must add up to the asset’s value on the valuation date.³ Florida law presumes assets acquired during the marriage are marital, so a nonmarital claim needs documents behind it.⁴ The long form’s virtual currency line requires a schedule of units held and unit value when the form is prepared.³

Contingent items are easy to miss. The short form says possible assets such as accrued leave, a bonus or an inheritance, and possible liabilities such as lawsuits or future taxes, must be listed.²

Both forms open with “being sworn, certify that the following information is true” and close with a declaration signed “under penalties of perjury.”²³ Florida’s verification statute allows that written declaration in place of a notarized oath, and a person who knowingly makes a false declaration commits perjury by false written declaration, a third-degree felony.⁵

The civil consequences matter more in most cases. Documents not served on time cannot be used at a nonfinal hearing unless the court finds good cause, and the court can impose other discovery sanctions.¹ Those sanctions include orders deeming facts established, barring evidence, striking pleadings or entering a default, plus contempt and expenses.⁶ A judgment can be reopened for fraud or misrepresentation; most such motions must be filed within one year, but there is no time limit for motions based on fraudulent financial affidavits in marital or paternity cases.⁷ Spending that later proves to be dissipation of marital assets can also shift the property division.

An honest mistake is handled differently: file an amended affidavit and serve the documents that support the change.¹

• Wrong form

  Using the short form with income of $50,000 or more, or measuring household rather than individual income.

• Bad monthly math

  Treating bi-weekly pay as twice monthly, or leaving annual bills such as insurance unconverted.

• Business income at face value

  Entering a salary or a tax-return figure instead of gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses, with the sheet attached.

• Missing assets

  Leaving out digital wallets, crypto, retirement accounts, collectibles, accounts in a child’s or relative’s name, or contingent bonuses.

• Unsupported nonmarital claims

  Listing an asset as nonmarital without the documents that trace it to a premarital source or inheritance.

• Never updated

  Failing to amend after a job change, bonus, sale or new debt during the case.

A family-law attorney should review the affidavit before you sign it. Our divorce asset and income analysis practice helps attorneys and their clients prepare and support the numbers.