Learn how to prepare a divorce financial affidavit
A properly prepared Florida divorce financial affidavit is the cornerstone of every single divorce proceeding. A financial affidavit not properly completed can turn what should be a straightforward process into a nightmare. Here is a guide that will explain each section of the financial affidavit and how to avoid the most common pitfalls.
How to fill out a divorce financial affidavit
1 – The correct divorce financial affidavit
Selecting the correct financial affidavit is the first step at getting this right. Luckily this is easy; there are only 2 different financial affidavits to choose from.
The short form financial affidavit is for those individuals earning less than $50,000 individual gross income, the long form financial affidavit is for those individuals earning more than that. Even a simple divorce in Florida needs a financial affidavit so it pays to read this whole article.
The only difference between both forms is the amount of questions on the expenses section of the divorce financial affidavit. Because this is the only difference this article will concentrate on the short version.
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2 – Employment
In this section of the Florida divorce financial affidavit you will write your occupation, the name of your employer and the business address. If you are self employed then you can write “self employed”. On the pay rate section write how much you make an hour, if you are on salary then write the gross amount of your paycheck. Then check the frequency.
Calculating your monthly income in your Florida divorce financial affidavit: this is the one area where most people make mistakes.
The Florida divorce financial affidavit must be completed using monthly income and expense amounts. If you are paid or your bills are due on a schedule which is not monthly, you must convert those amounts. Hints are provided below for making these conversions.
Hourly – If you are paid by the hour, you may convert your income to monthly as follows:
Hourly amount x Hours worked per week = Weekly amount
Weekly amount x 52 Weeks per year = Yearly amount
Yearly amount ÷ 12 Months per year = Monthly Amount
Daily – If you are paid by the day, you may convert your income to monthly as follows:
Daily amount x Days worked per week = Weekly amount
Weekly amount x 52 Weeks per year = Yearly amount
Yearly amount ÷ 12 Months per year = Monthly Amount
Weekly – If you are paid by the week, you may convert your income to monthly as follows:
Weekly amount x 52 Weeks per year = Yearly amount
Yearly amount ÷ 12 Months per year = Monthly Amount
Bi-weekly – If you are paid every two weeks, you may convert your income to monthly as follows:
Bi-weekly amount x 26 = Yearly amount
Yearly amount ÷ 12 Months per year = Monthly Amount
Semi-monthly – If you are paid twice per month, you may convert your income to monthly as follows:
Semi-monthly amount x 2 = Monthly Amount
3 – Deductions
Use the same formula as above to calculate the deductions. Highlighted below are the areas that most people get confused by.
- Federal, state and local income tax – In the State of Florida there is no state tax so you do not have to worry about that.
- and b. Filing status and number of dependents claimed, this is what you wrote on your W9 when you started working, it’s how your company calculates how much to deduct from your paycheck. If you are self-employed then use what you selected in your income tax.
- Monthly FICA or self-employment taxes – This may or may not apply to you
- Monthly medicare payments – This should be right on your paycheck, if you are self employed do not worry about this.
- Monthly mandatory union dues – This may or may not apply to you
22 . Monthly mandatory retirement payments – This is the social security deductions in your paycheck
- Monthly health insurance payments – This includes dental insurance, make sure that any portion paid for minor children in this relationship is EXCLUDED. You may need to contact your benefits department at work to determine the correct amount for only the children.
- Monthly court-ordered child support actually paid for children from another relationship – If you have a child support case or a previous marriage where you are still paying child support, then this amount is very important and needs to be included here.
- Monthly court-ordered alimony actually paid – This may or may not apply to you
4 – Expenses Florida divorce financial affidavit
To be quite honest, many of the expenses you list here are not that important.
The area that most people make a mistake on is the section F. Payments to creditors
In this area you need to write the name of each creditor and the monthly amount, if it’s a credit card then write the minimum monthly amount you pay here, even if you pay more than the minimum most of the time.
If you have children then it is crucial that on section C. Children’s Expenses you include any daycare (or after school care) amount that you actually pay for. Also, on section D. Insurance Children’s medical/dental insurance monthly fee – ONLY include the actual monthly cost for the children’s insurance.
5 – Summary – Math must make sense
Very important to do these calculations correctly.
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6 – Assets Section
Most questions in this area are self explanatory but many people still make mistakes in this area:
- Only include your own assets here, check the box on the left. Do not include your spouse’s assets, only if they are yours or joint.
7 – Liabilities Section
Each of your debts needs to be listed here, especially those you listed on the section F. Payments to creditors. Again only include your own debts and those that are joint.
8 – Contingent assets and liabilities:
If there are any possible income potential, or possible liabilities they need to be included in this section.
The last part of this is the signing. Do not sign until you are in front of a notary, this is very important! If you sign before you are in front of the notary the notary will not notarize the document so be aware of this.
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FYI – If you are filing for a divorce by publication in Florida you will only need to file your financial affidavit.