Decide if you have the information you need
Before you make an agreement, make sure you have the information you need to make decisions.
If you don’t have it yet, you can ask for it.
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Make sure you got financial disclosures
You should have this information from your spouse:
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Tax returns from the last 2 years
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Income and Expense Declaration (form FL-150) with 2 months of pay stubs
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Schedule of Assets and Debts (form FL-142) or Property Declaration (form FL-160)
If you or your spouse has a retirement account or pension, you should also have information about that.
📌 Review these forms carefully.
If something looks missing or unclear, ask for more information before you agree to anything.
What to do if you don't get financial disclosures from your spouse
If your spouse hasn’t given you any financial disclosures, you can ask the judge to order them to provide the information.
💬 Your court’s self-help center can explain how to ask the court for this and what steps to take.
Decide if you need more information
Sometimes financial disclosures aren’t enough to help you decide. You may need more details.
You can ask your spouse for:
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Financial records
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Documents
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Written answers to questions
If your spouse won’t give you the information, you can use a legal process called discovery to get it.
Key takeaways
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Review financial disclosures before making an agreement.
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Ask for more information if something’s missing or unclear.
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The court can order your spouse to provide disclosures.
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You can use discovery to get more information if you need it.
Make decisions
What's next?
When you have the information you need to make a decision, you can start to propose an agreement and negotiate with your spouse. The next step gives you some tools for how to negotiate.