DR-6 Form Rhode Island: How to Complete Your Financial Affidavit

The DR-6 is the single most important — and most frequently botched — document in any Rhode Island custody or divorce case. Officially called the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, Income, and Expenses, this financial affidavit is required at virtually every stage of your proceedings: initial filing, temporary hearings, mediation, and the final nominal hearing.

Get it wrong and the judge has grounds to delay your case, reject your child support calculation, or question your credibility on the stand.

What the DR-6 Covers

The form is a comprehensive financial snapshot broken into four sections:

Assets. Every bank account, retirement fund, investment account, real estate holding, vehicle, and item of personal property with meaningful value. Include current balances and fair market values. For jointly held assets, list the full value and note it's shared.

Liabilities. Every debt: mortgage balances, car loans, student loans, credit card balances, personal loans, and any back taxes owed. Include the creditor name, total balance, and monthly payment for each.

Income. Your gross income from all sources — employment, self-employment, rental income, investment dividends, disability benefits, and any other recurring income. The court needs weekly and monthly figures, so if you're paid biweekly, divide your annual salary by 52 for the weekly figure and multiply that by 4.3333 for the monthly figure.

Expenses. This is where most people struggle. The DR-6 requires a detailed breakdown of your weekly and monthly living expenses: housing costs, utilities, food, clothing, transportation, insurance premiums, childcare, medical costs, and personal expenses. Every line matters — judges use these figures to assess temporary support needs and verify that support calculations are reasonable.

Common Mistakes That Delay Cases

Leaving lines blank. If an expense category doesn't apply to you, enter zero. A blank line signals incomplete work and can prompt the court to reject the form or request a resubmission.

Using outdated income figures. Your DR-6 must reflect current income at the time of filing. If you filed your initial DR-6 six months ago and your income has changed, you need a fresh one for the next hearing.

Forgetting to notarize. The DR-6 is a sworn affidavit. It must be signed under oath before a notary public. An unnotarized DR-6 is technically inadmissible.

Inconsistent math. Judges compare both parents' DR-6 forms line by line. If your weekly rent figure doesn't multiply to your monthly rent figure by roughly 4.33, you'll face questions about accuracy.

Omitting the child's health insurance cost. Under Rhode Island guidelines, health insurance for the child must be maintained if available at "reasonable cost" (not exceeding 5% of the parent's gross income). The premium cost gets added to the basic child support calculation and split between parents proportionally.

When You File It

You'll file a DR-6 multiple times throughout your case:

1. With your initial complaint or response — whether you're the plaintiff or defendant
2. Before any Motion for Temporary Allowances — the opposing party must file their responsive DR-6 at least seven days before the hearing
3. Before the nominal hearing — the final DR-6 reflects your financial position at the time of the settlement
4. Before any post-judgment modification — if you're seeking to change child support later

Each filing must be current. Recycling an old DR-6 with a new date is perjury.

How the DR-6 Connects to Child Support

The DR-6 feeds directly into the DR-10 (Child Support Guideline Worksheet). Your adjusted gross income from the DR-6 goes into the DR-10 calculation, where it's combined with the other parent's income to determine the basic child support obligation under Rhode Island's Income Shares Model.

If you're in a shared physical placement arrangement (each parent with at least 179 overnights per year under Administrative Order 2018-01), the DR-10 uses an offset formula. Both parents' theoretical support obligations are calculated, and the parent with the higher obligation pays the net difference.

Getting the DR-6 right means getting child support right. Getting it wrong means either overpaying, underpaying, or having the entire calculation challenged.

Getting It Done Right

The Rhode Island Child Custody & Parenting Plan Guide includes a step-by-step DR-6 walkthrough with annotated examples for each section — assets, liabilities, income, and expenses — so you can complete the form accurately and avoid the delays that come from court rejections.

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