The financial statement lists a number of sources of income and deductions that don’t apply to me. Should I leave those blank? How do I calculate my expenses? They vary monthly. Nothing has changed on my financial statement since the last hearing. Do I need to completely redo the financial statement for the upcoming hearing? I want to explain something on the financial statement that is not clear. Where do I do that? It’s easier for me to complete the financial statement by hand.
No, the court requires each field to be completed. If you do not have a particular source of income, deduction, or expense, enter “zero” instead of leaving the field blank.
You can approach the calculation a couple of ways. You can take the average based on expenses for the last three months. Or you can take the average over the last year. Just be sure to be consistent. If you take averages of the last three months for income, you should do the same for expenses. You may want to talk to an attorney because it might be helpful to calculate figures one way or another based on your request for alimony and child support.
No, most courts will accept the prior financial statement if you re-sign the final page on the date of the upcoming hearing. Be careful though—chances are a figure did change, such as your checking account balance or the balance of your 401k.
You can footnote a field, and then enter footnotes on the bottom of the page. Alternatively, you can include endnotes in an addendum. Be sure the footnotes/endnotes are on the copy submitted to the court.
The copy you submit to the court needs to be typed and on pink paper. It sounds silly, but providing a pink, typed copy will flag to the court that you are a serous litigant who knows what you are doing.