If you are going through a divorce or legal separation in California, you will fill out an FL-150. There is no avoiding it. The Income and Expense Declaration is California’s version of a financial affidavit, and the court requires it in virtually every family law case that involves support, attorney fees, or the division of property.

This guide walks through each section of the form, explains what the court is actually looking for, and covers the mistakes that trip people up most often.

What Is the FL-150?

The FL-150 is a Judicial Council form that requires you to disclose your income, monthly expenses, assets, and debts under penalty of perjury. Judges use it to calculate child support, spousal support, and to determine each party’s ability to pay attorney fees.

It is not optional. If you skip it or fill it out carelessly, the judge makes decisions about your finances based on incomplete information — or worse, based on what your spouse claims your finances look like.

The form works alongside FL-142 (Schedule of Assets and Debts) and FL-141 (Declaration of Disclosure). Together, these documents give the court a full picture of the marital finances. For a broader overview of the financial affidavit process across states, see our guide on how to fill out a financial affidavit for divorce.

When You Need to File It

You must file an FL-150 in any California family law proceeding that involves:

Dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership — every contested divorce requires it
Legal separation — same disclosure requirements as dissolution
Child support orders — initial orders and modifications
Spousal support requests — temporary (pendente lite) or long-term
Attorney fee requests — Family Code Section 2030 motions require both parties to file updated FL-150s
Modification of existing orders — any time you ask the court to change support, you file a current FL-150

In a contested case, expect to file multiple updated versions over the life of the case. Each time a support hearing comes up, you need a current one.

Section-by-Section Walkthrough

Sections 1-5: Employment and Income

This is the foundation of the form. The court uses these numbers to run the guideline child support calculation (DissoMaster or XSpouse software), so accuracy matters enormously.

What to report:

Employer information — name, address, job title, dates of employment
Gross monthly income — your total income before taxes and deductions. Include base salary, overtime, commissions, and bonuses. If your income varies, use a 12-month average.
Payroll deductions — taxes, health insurance, mandatory retirement contributions, union dues
Self-employment income — if you run a business, report gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary operating expenses. Attach a profit and loss statement.
Other income — rental income, dividends, interest, trust distributions, Social Security, disability, unemployment, spousal support from a prior marriage

The most common mistake here is forgetting variable income. If you received a $12,000 bonus last year, your monthly income includes an extra $1,000 per month. Opposing counsel will find it on your tax return even if you leave it off the FL-150.

Sections 12-13: Monthly Expenses

This is where the form gets tedious. You must itemize your actual monthly expenses across dozens of categories:

Housing — rent or mortgage, property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, maintenance
Utilities — electricity, gas, water, trash, phone, internet
Food — groceries and dining out (listed separately)
Transportation — car payment, insurance, gas, maintenance, parking
Healthcare — insurance premiums, out-of-pocket medical, dental, vision, therapy
Childcare — daycare, after-school programs, babysitters
Children’s expenses — clothing, school fees, activities, tutoring
Insurance — life insurance, other insurance not listed elsewhere
Personal — clothing, grooming, entertainment, education
Debt payments — credit card minimums, student loans, personal loans

The form asks for “average monthly” figures. That means you cannot just look at last month’s bank statement and call it done. You need to calculate averages across a representative period — typically 12 months.

Assets and Debts

The FL-150 itself does not have a detailed asset and debt section. Instead, it references FL-142, the Schedule of Assets and Debts, where you list every account, property, and obligation. The FL-150 asks for a summary: total assets, total debts, and your net worth.

Make sure these numbers are consistent with your FL-142. Discrepancies between forms are one of the first things opposing counsel checks.

The Bank Statement Challenge

Here is the real problem with the FL-150: calculating accurate monthly averages.

The form asks you to report what you actually spend each month on groceries, utilities, clothing, entertainment, and a dozen other categories. Most people do not track their spending at this level. When they sit down to fill out the form, they guess.

Guessing is a bad idea for two reasons. First, judges and family law attorneys have seen thousands of these forms. They know what realistic spending looks like and they know when numbers are fabricated. Second, you are signing under penalty of perjury. If your estimated grocery spending is $400 per month but your bank statements show $900, that is a credibility problem.

The accurate approach is to go through 12 months of bank and credit card statements, categorize every transaction, and calculate the actual monthly average for each expense category. Doing this by hand — across multiple accounts, with different statement formats — takes days.

This is exactly the problem Talio was built to solve. Upload 12 months of bank and credit card statements, and the AI extracts and categorizes every transaction automatically. You get actual monthly averages for each expense category, backed by real transaction data. Instead of guessing what you spend on groceries, you know it is $847 per month because that is what 3,200 transactions across 12 months actually show.

Tips for Accuracy

Do not round aggressively. Reporting $500 for every category signals that you estimated. Real spending produces odd numbers — $847, $1,234, $63. Use the actual figures from your bank statements.

Keep your math internally consistent. Your income minus your total expenses should roughly match your actual savings rate. If you report $8,000 in monthly income and $7,500 in expenses, but your bank balance dropped $3,000 per month over the past year, someone will notice the gap.

Account for irregular expenses. Annual car insurance, property taxes, holiday spending, and vacations do not show up every month. Divide the annual total by 12 and include it. The FL-150 specifically asks for average monthly amounts — this is how you handle irregular costs.

Cross-reference with tax returns. Your reported income on the FL-150 should be consistent with your most recent tax return. If there is a legitimate reason for a difference (job change, raise, layoff), be prepared to explain it.

For a deeper dive into the bank statement analysis process, see our guide on how to analyze bank statements for divorce.

Common FL-150 Mistakes

Forgetting bonuses and commissions in income. If your W-2 shows $120,000 but your base salary is $95,000, you need to account for the other $25,000 as monthly income ($2,083/month).
Underreporting irregular expenses. People forget about annual subscriptions, car registration, gifts, travel, and home repairs. These add up.
Not accounting for cash spending. If you withdraw $200 per week from the ATM, that is $866 per month in spending that needs to be categorized somewhere.
Inflating expenses to reduce apparent income surplus. This backfires. If your expenses look artificially high relative to your income, the court may question your credibility on everything else.
Inconsistency between FL-150 and FL-142. The asset and debt summaries must match. If your FL-142 lists a $15,000 credit card balance but your FL-150 shows no credit card payments, that is a red flag.
Using outdated numbers. The court wants current figures. If you filed the form six months ago and your situation changed (new job, moved, kids started a new school), you need to update it.

What to Attach

The FL-150 requires supporting documentation:

Pay stubs — your two most recent pay stubs
Tax returns — your most recent federal and state returns, including all schedules and W-2s
Schedule of Assets and Debts (FL-142) — the detailed companion form
Profit and loss statement — if self-employed, covering the past 12 months

Some attorneys also attach a bank statement summary showing how the monthly expense figures were calculated. This is not required, but it strengthens your credibility — especially if opposing counsel challenges your numbers. Talio’s financial summary export produces exactly this kind of documentation.

The Bottom Line

The FL-150 is a critical document that directly affects support calculations and fee awards. Judges rely on it. Attorneys scrutinize it. Filling it out with guesses is risky; filling it out with actual bank statement data is defensible.

Take the time to get it right, or use a tool that does the calculation work for you. Either way, every number on that form should trace back to a real transaction or a real pay stub. Your credibility in court depends on it.

If you are also navigating the broader question of divorce costs, accurate financial disclosure from the start can actually reduce legal fees by avoiding disputes over contested numbers later.