California divorce requires extensive financial transparency between spouses. In addition to Preliminary Declarations of Disclosure, spouses ordinarily have obligations concerning Final Declarations of Disclosure before resolving property and support issues or proceeding to trial. California law allows final disclosures to be waived in certain circumstances, but a waiver does not eliminate the underlying obligation to provide complete and accurate financial information.

Final Disclosures Provide Updated Financial Information

Final disclosure requirements go beyond simply identifying the existence of assets and liabilities.

The final disclosure process includes material information concerning the characterization and valuation of community assets and the amounts of community obligations.

Timing is also important.

Unless an applicable exception or waiver applies, final disclosures generally must be served before or when the parties enter into an agreement resolving property or support issues.

If the case is proceeding to trial, the final disclosure generally must be served no later than 45 days before the first assigned trial date.

The purpose is to ensure that financial decisions are made using sufficiently current information rather than relying entirely on disclosures exchanged much earlier in the divorce.

Spouses Can Mutually Waive Final Disclosures Under Specific Conditions

California permits spouses to mutually waive the Final Declaration of Disclosure.

The waiver must satisfy specific requirements. It can be entered under penalty of perjury in open court or through a separate written stipulation.

Among other things, the spouses must represent that they completed and exchanged their preliminary disclosures and current Income and Expense Declarations.

They must also represent that they have fulfilled their continuing disclosure obligations, including providing material information concerning the characterization of assets and liabilities, valuation of assets claimed to be community property or subject to a community interest, and amounts of obligations claimed to be community liabilities.

The waiver must be knowing, intelligent, and voluntary.

Importantly, simply inserting a sentence into a marital settlement agreement stating that final disclosures are waived is insufficient. The waiver must comply with the required procedure, which can include filing the applicable Stipulation and Waiver of Final Declaration of Disclosure.

Waiving the Document Does Not Waive Financial Transparency

The most important feature of the waiver is what it does not accomplish.

A mutual waiver does not eliminate the spouses’ substantive financial disclosure obligations.

Instead, the spouses are essentially representing under penalty of perjury that those obligations have already been fulfilled. The required waiver expressly recognizes that it does not limit the parties’ legal disclosure duties.

This prevents the waiver procedure from becoming a method for avoiding disclosure of material financial information.

There are also other circumstances in which final disclosures may not be required. A petitioner in a true default proceeding may waive final disclosure, and summary dissolution has its own exception. Preliminary disclosures, however, are governed by separate rules and generally remain required.

A Final Disclosure Waiver Is Not a Waiver of the Duty to Disclose

California spouses can mutually waive the formal Final Declaration of Disclosure when the statutory requirements are satisfied, but they cannot use that waiver to avoid providing material financial information. The waiver confirms that the required disclosure obligations have been fulfilled rather than eliminating those obligations. Understanding this distinction is important before resolving property or support issues and asking the family court to enter a divorce judgment.