Short Form Financial Affidavit Florida

What the Short Form Financial Affidavit Actually Is

It's a standardized Florida court form used primarily in family law cases when both parties have relatively straightforward finances. The full version exists for complex estates. This shortened version covers the basics: income, expenses, assets, debts, and a few supporting declarations. If your case involves one job, a mortgage, maybe a car payment, and a savings account, the court will generally accept the short form. The specific form number is Florida Family Law Form 12.902(b). You'll find it on the Florida Supreme Court's approved forms page. It's not available everywhere outside that official channel, which matters because some law library copies have outdated revision dates and judges sometimes reject them.

Short Form Financial Affidavit Florida

The form was updated most recently in January 2023, so double-check that date on your copy. Older versions with different numbering or revision marks have caused problems in a few courts I've seen. A judge in my area once held up the entire proceedings because someone filed a 2019 version instead of the current one. Took three weeks to sort out. The short form is meant for cases where total annual gross income falls below $200,000 and neither party owns a business, partnership interest, or substantial investment portfolio. That's the informal cutoff most practitioners use, even though the form itself doesn't explicitly state that dollar threshold. If you're close to it, the full form is safer to file. Judges tend to look skeptically at short forms when the disclosed income is just under that line and the other side has every reason to suspect something was left out. Self-employment complicates things. If you run a small side business but report it as a separate line item, the short form technically allows it. In practice, the other attorney will almost always push for the full form if either party has Schedule C income. I once had a client who did consulting work on the side making about $18,000 a year. Opposing counsel argued he should use the long form. The judge agreed with the motion, and we spent two additional weeks on discovery before the case could proceed. Not worth the hassle if you can avoid it.

How to Fill It Out Correctly

Start with the income section. Gross income means before taxes, not net pay. Include overtime, bonuses, commissions, and any regular side income. The form asks for your monthly gross and gives you room to annualize it. Don't round numbers. If your paycheck says $4,237.68, write $4,237.68. Rounding is one of the most common mistakes I see, and it gives the other side ammunition to question your credibility later. For expenses, the form provides categories. Most people underreport here because they forget recurring obligations like insurance premiums, subscription services, or childcare costs that don't come out of every paycheck. I usually tell people to pull their bank statements from the last three months and go line by line. It takes about twenty minutes and prevents the embarrassment of having your expenses reduced on cross-examination because you forgot to list something. The asset and liability sections follow the same principle. List everything. Joint accounts, retirement accounts, vehicles with loans, credit cards, medical debt. If you share a checking account with your spouse, list it on both sides. Don't leave it off one to "simplify" things. The form is supposed to be a snapshot of where both parties stand, not a curated highlight reel.

Common Pitfalls

Signed but not notarized. The form requires notarization in Florida. Some people fill it out, sign it, and mail it without stopping at a notary. The clerk will reject it, and you'll lose time. Do this before you file anything. Mixing up gross and net income. This happens constantly. The short form clearly asks for gross income, but people are so used to thinking about take-home pay that they fill in the wrong number. Double-check each entry against your actual W-2 or pay stub before you finalize. Dates that don't match. The form asks for the date of the affidavit and the period it covers. If your filing date is March 15th but you list expenses from February, the inconsistency can look like you're hiding current spending patterns. Keep the dates consistent with when you actually filed.

I encountered a specific edge case involving a client who received a one-time inheritance payment of about $12,000 the month before the affidavit was due. The short form doesn't have a dedicated line for inheritances or lump-sum windfalls. I included it under "other income" with a brief note explaining the source and that it was a one-time event. The opposing counsel initially objected, arguing it should have been listed as an asset rather than income. We split the difference and listed it as both, which satisfied the court. That's the kind of gap in the form where a small note makes a real difference.

Filing and Service

Once completed and notarized, file it with the clerk of the court where your case is pending. There's typically a filing fee unless you've filed a motion to proceed in forma pauperis. Serve a copy on the other party or their attorney. In Florida, this is usually done through the e-filing system if the court supports it, which most do now. Keep your stamped copy for your records. If the case involves children, the affidavit is particularly scrutinized because child support calculations depend directly on the income figures reported. Even a minor discrepancy between what you report here and what shows up on your tax return can trigger a referral to the Department of Revenue or, worse, an allegation of perjury. The numbers need to be consistent across every document you file in the case.

Where to Get the Form

The official form is available free from the Florida Courts website under approved family law forms. Search for Form 12.902(b). The direct download link changes occasionally, so the safest approach is to navigate there yourself rather than trusting a third-party legal site that may host an outdated version. Third-party sites often have older revisions and sometimes add their own formatting that doesn't match what the clerk accepts. Avoid those. If you can't access the internet or need help filling it out, visit your local family law self-help center. Most counties in Florida have one. They won't give legal advice, but they can walk you through the form line by line. The staff there deal with these forms every day and can spot issues before you file.

Limits of the Short Form

It doesn't work for every situation. If you have significant assets, multiple income streams, a business, or property in another state, the short form will likely miss critical details. Judges notice when people use the short form as a shortcut in cases that clearly need more disclosure. In those situations, the full financial affidavit under Form 12.902(a) is the correct document, and using the wrong one can delay your case or result in sanctions. The short form also doesn't accommodate international income or foreign bank accounts well. If either party has income from outside the United States, the form's structure doesn't capture that cleanly. You'd need to attach a detailed schedule or use the long form. I've seen this come up in a handful of cases where one spouse worked remotely for a foreign employer. The other side always files a motion to compel the long form in that scenario, and courts typically grant it.