Vermont Divorce Financial Disclosure: What to File and When

Every Vermont divorce — contested or uncontested — requires both spouses to exchange verified financial information within 30 days of serving the complaint. Skip this step or file incomplete numbers, and the court can delay your case, sanction you, or reject your final stipulation outright.

Which Forms You Need

Vermont's Family Division requires two separate financial affidavit forms:

Form 400-00813A (Income and Expenses) covers your gross income from all sources (wages, self-employment, rental income, government benefits), payroll deductions, and monthly living expenses. You must list every income stream — courts cross-reference this with tax returns and employer records.

Form 400-00813B (Assets and Debts) inventories everything you own and owe: real estate, vehicles, bank accounts, retirement accounts (401(k), IRA, pension), investments, personal property, credit card balances, student loans, and mortgages. Each asset needs a current fair market value, not the purchase price.

Both forms are signed under oath. Filing inaccurate numbers isn't just a procedural mistake — it's perjury under Vermont law.

The 30-Day Disclosure Window

Once the complaint is served, both parties must exchange completed financial affidavits within 30 days, or by the case management conference — whichever comes first. The case manager reviews these forms at the conference (typically scheduled 42 to 60 days after filing) to identify contested issues.

If you're filing a stipulated divorce, your financial affidavits must accompany the Final Stipulation (Form 400-00878). The judge reviews them to verify the property division is fair and that child support calculations match the guidelines. Incomplete or missing affidavits are the most common reason judges reject stipulations.

How to Prepare Your Financial Affidavit

Gather these documents before you sit down with the forms:

• Last two years of federal and state tax returns (including all schedules)
• Three months of pay stubs from every employer
• Twelve months of bank statements for every account — checking, savings, money market
• Current mortgage statement showing balance and monthly payment
• Vehicle titles and loan statements with payoff amounts
• Most recent retirement account statements (401(k), IRA, pension, 403(b))
• Credit card statements showing current balances
• Student loan balances and repayment terms

For self-employed filers, you also need profit-and-loss statements and business bank records. The court applies a 0.0765 FICA rate to net self-employment income when calculating support obligations.

Common Mistakes That Delay Cases

Forgetting to update values. If your case takes several months, the court may require updated affidavits before the final hearing. Asset values from six months ago won't satisfy the judge.

Omitting retirement accounts. Vermont is an equitable distribution state — the court can divide all property owned by either spouse, including assets acquired before the marriage, inheritions, and retirement benefits. Leaving a 401(k) off the affidavit doesn't protect it; it flags your disclosure as incomplete.

Rounding or estimating. Use exact figures from statements, not ballpark numbers. Judges notice when a checking account balance is listed as "$5,000" with no cents.

Not signing under oath. Both affidavits must be verified — signed in front of a notary or under penalty of perjury. An unsigned form is treated as unfiled.

What Happens If You Don't Disclose

If one spouse refuses to file financial affidavits, the other can file a motion to compel disclosure. The court can impose sanctions, including awarding attorney fees to the compliant spouse or drawing negative inferences about hidden assets.

In a contested divorce, the case manager won't schedule a final hearing until both parties have exchanged complete financial disclosures. In a stipulated divorce, the clerk will reject the filing package.

Using Worksheets to Organize Before Filing

The official court forms ask for specific categories and line items that catch most people off guard. Working through a property and debt inventory worksheet before opening the affidavit forms means you're filling in pre-organized numbers rather than scrambling through a shoebox of statements.

The Vermont Divorce Filing Process Guide includes pre-filing worksheets designed to map directly onto Forms 400-00813A and 400-00813B — so every line item on the court form has a matching entry in your preparation materials.

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