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New Jersey Case Information Statement: A Line-by-Line Walkthrough of the Family Part CIS

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Direct answer: The Case Information Statement (CIS) is the sworn financial disclosure form used in contested New Jersey family cases involving custody, support, alimony, or equitable distribution. Under R. 5:5-2(b), an initial CIS — or a certification that no CIS is required — must be filed with the clerk in the county of venue within 20 days after an Answer or Appearance is filed, or at any other time the court designates. The current form is CN 10482, revised 08/2025 and effective 09/01/2025. It covers your income, monthly expenses, assets, and debts, and it calls for attachments including your three most recent pay stubs and your most recent federal and state tax returns.

If you’re trying to figure out what a child support number might look like once your CIS figures are in front of you, the free child support calculator can give you a starting estimate before you sit down with the form itself.

This article walks through the current CIS form part by part, in the order it appears on the page, so you know what each section asks for and what has to be attached. It is written for people filling this out without a lawyer. It is not legal advice, and nothing here tells you how a judge will rule on your case.

One thing that changed on September 1, 2025

If you’re reading older articles or rule summaries about the CIS, check their dates. For decades the CIS form lived in the Court Rules as Appendix V, and R. 5:5-2(b) directed parties to file “in the form set forth in Appendix V of these rules.”

By order dated July 31, 2025, effective September 1, 2025, the New Jersey Supreme Court deleted Appendix V and amended R. 5:5-2(b) so that the CIS is now filed “in a form prescribed by the Administrative Director of the Courts.” The same substitution was made in R. 5:5-10 and R. 5:7-2, which also used to point to Appendix V.

The practical effect for you is small but worth knowing: the form itself still exists and is still called the Family Part Case Information Statement, but it is now an AOC-prescribed form rather than a Court Rules appendix. You can see the change on the form itself — the 2017 version’s page footer read “CN: 10482 (Court Rules Appendix V),” while the current footer simply reads “Revised: 08/2025, Effective: 09/01/2025, CN:10482.” Get the form from the Judiciary’s forms site rather than from a copy of the rule book appendix.

Who has to file a CIS, and when

R. 5:5-2(a) requires a CIS to be filed and served “in all contested family actions, except summary actions, in which there is any issue as to custody, support, alimony or equitable distribution.” In other family actions, the rule allows a CIS to be required by order, on the court’s motion or a party’s.

Under R. 5:5-2(b), and except as otherwise provided in R. 5:7-2, an initial CIS — or a certification that no CIS is required under paragraph (a) — is filed by each party with the clerk in the county of venue “within 20 days after the filing of an Answer or Appearance or at any other time designated by the court.”

Two things about that deadline are easy to misread. First, the trigger is the filing of an Answer or an Appearance in the case, not the date you were served with the complaint. Second, the 20 days is not the only possible schedule: the rule expressly lets the court designate a different time, and R. 5:7-2 sets its own timing for pendente lite (temporary support) applications. If you are unsure which clock applies to your case, ask the Family Division Manager’s office in your county of venue.

R. 5:5-2(b) also sets out what can happen if the CIS is not filed: “The court on either its own or a party’s motion may, on notice to all parties, dismiss a party’s pleadings for failure to have filed a case information statement. If dismissed, said pleadings shall be subject to reinstatement upon such conditions as the court may deem just.” Note the two limits built into that sentence — dismissal requires notice to all parties, and reinstatement is available on conditions the court sets. The rule does not specify what those conditions are.

One citation note, because outdated summaries circulate: the dismissal language sits in R. 5:5-2(b). Current paragraph (e) is something different — the marital, civil union, or domestic partnership standard-of-living declaration, discussed below. Former paragraph (e) was deleted and redesignated as R. 5:5-10 effective September 1, 2007, and former (f) became (e) at the same time. If a source you’re reading cites 5:5-2(e) for the dismissal sanction, it is working from a pre-2007 version of the rule.

Run the numbers before you finalize anything

Filling out Part C and Part D of the CIS gives you the raw income and expense figures a New Jersey child support worksheet draws on. Before you finalize a support figure or respond to a proposal from the other side, plug your numbers into the free child support calculator to see roughly where you land. It is not a substitute for the official Appendix IX child support guidelines worksheet the court uses — that worksheet is itself a required attachment under Part G, item 11 — but it is a fast sanity check.

Part A — Case Information

Part A opens with the basics: date of the statement; the date of any divorce, dissolution of civil union, or termination of domestic partnership (for post-judgment matters); the date or dates of any prior CIS filings; your birthdate and the other party’s; the date of marriage or entry into a civil union or domestic partnership; date of separation; and date of the complaint.

Alongside those dates is an “Issues in Dispute” column where you identify the cause of action and check off which issues are actually contested: custody, parenting time, alimony, child support, equitable distribution, counsel fees, anticipated college or post-secondary education expenses, and “other issues (be specific).” There is also a yes/no question about whether an agreement already exists between the parties on any issue, with an instruction to attach a copy if it is written or a summary if it is oral.

The rest of Part A lists names and addresses of both parties, then a chart covering children from this relationship and children from other relationships — each child’s full name, address, birthdate, and the name of the person the child lives with.

Part B — Miscellaneous Information

Part B covers employment (name and address of the employer, or of the business if you are self-employed) and insurance obtained through that employment — medical, dental, prescription drug, life, and disability, with an “other” line — plus a separate question about whether insurance is available through your employment even if you have not enrolled.

Item 3 directs you to attach an Affidavit of Insurance Coverage as required by R. 5:4-2(f), and asks you to check whether it has been filed. That is a separate sworn document listing known insurance coverage of the parties and their minor children, identifying the company, policy number, named insured and others covered, and a description of the coverage. It also asks whether any coverage was canceled or modified within the 90 days preceding its date. R. 5:4-2(f) further provides that insurance identified in the affidavit is to be maintained pending further order of the court — a detail worth knowing before you change or cancel a policy mid-case.

Item 4 asks whether a Confidential Litigant Information Sheet has been filed. Item 5 requires you to attach a list of all prior or pending family actions involving support, custody, or domestic violence, with the docket number, county, state, and disposition reached, along with copies of all existing orders in effect.

Part C — Income Information

Part C is the longest income section, and it is designed to be completed for yourself and, where known, for the other party. A header note tells W-2 wage earners that “gross earned income” here means Medicare wages — a small instruction that changes the number you write down.

It opens with last calendar year’s gross earned income, unearned income, total income taxes paid (federal, state, F.I.C.A., and S.U.I.), and net income, with separate columns for yours, joint, and the other party’s. If you filed a joint return, you use the middle column. This subsection directs you to attach a corporate benefits statement, a statement of all fringe benefits of employment, a full and complete copy of last year’s federal and state income tax returns, and W-2s, 1099s, and Schedule Cs.

Next comes present earned income: average gross weekly income based on your last three pay periods, with pay stubs attached, plus weekly deductions and net average weekly income. You also indicate whether commissions and bonuses are included, not included, or not paid to you, and attach details and the last three statements of any such payments.

From there the form asks for a current year-to-date breakdown: gross earned income and number of weeks, itemized tax deductions (federal, New Jersey, other-state, F.I.C.A., Medicare, S.U.I./S.D.I., estimated payments in excess of withholding, plus blank lines), and itemized other deductions (hospitalization/medical insurance, life insurance, union dues, 401(k) plans, pension/retirement plans, other plans, charity, wage execution, medical reimbursement flex fund, and an “other” line), with a checkbox to flag which deductions are mandatory. Those total down to net year-to-date earned income and net average earned income per month and per week.

Part C then collects year-to-date gross unearned income by source — unemployment, disability, Social Security, interest, dividends, rental income, and any other miscellaneous unearned income — with how often each is paid.

The section closes with eighteen numbered items under “Additional Information,” covering pay frequency, annual salary, raises received this year, bonuses and commissions and other distributions (both currently and during the current or immediate past two calendar years), employer-provided vehicles and automobile expenses, cash or distributions not otherwise listed, overtime income, stock options and restricted stock and other non-cash compensation, other supplemental compensation, income from unemployment or disability or Social Security or SSI or other government programs, dependents claimed, alimony paid or received (including whether it is taxable), child support paid or received, wage executions in connection with support, whether a safe deposit box exists and at which bank, and whether a dependent child has received government program income. Item 18 is an open field: “Explanation of Income or Other Information.”

Part D — Monthly Expenses

Part D is where most people spend the bulk of their time. It asks for two parallel columns: Joint Life Style, described on the form as the standard of living established during the marriage or civil union for the family including the children, and Current Life Style, meaning yours and the children’s now. The heading instructs that figures are computed at 4.3 weeks per month, and a note tells you not to repeat the income deductions already listed in Part C-3.

The form’s instructions page is specific about where the numbers come from: monthly expenses “must be reviewed and should be based on actual expenditures such as those shown from checkbook registers, bank statements or credit card statements from the past 24 months.” (A separate instruction addresses assets: asset values should come from actual appraisals or account statements where possible, and if a value is an estimate, that should be clearly noted.)

Part D is broken into four schedules:

Each schedule totals separately, and the four totals roll into grand totals for both the joint and current lifestyle columns. A note adds that if you are paying expenses for a spouse or civil union partner and/or children that are not reflected in this budget, you must attach a schedule of those payments.

Why the two-column structure matters: the joint lifestyle figure speaks to the standard of living established during the marriage, and New Jersey’s alimony statute directs courts to consider, among many factors, “the standard of living established in the marriage or civil union and the likelihood that each party can maintain a reasonably comparable standard of living, with neither party having a greater entitlement to that standard of living than the other” (N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(b)(4)). Your CIS figures are the evidence you are putting in front of the court on that factor. They are one input among the statutory factors, not a formula that produces a result.

Part E — Balance Sheet of All Family Assets and Liabilities

Part E is a net worth statement. The asset side runs through fifteen numbered categories: real property; bank accounts, CDs, and personal electronic mobile payment application accounts; vehicles; tangible personal property; stocks, bonds and securities; pension, profit sharing, and retirement plans including 401(k)s; IRAs; businesses, partnerships, and professional practices; life insurance (cash surrender value); loans receivable; other; cryptocurrency and any other digital/virtual currency; children’s accounts including 529 plans, trusts, trust accounts, and accounts in the children’s names; income tax carryover losses, prepaid taxes, refunds, and credits; and any other asset not listed above or disclosed.

For each item you give the description, who holds title (P for Plaintiff, D for Defendant, J for Joint), the date of purchase or acquisition, the value, and the date of evaluation. If you claim an asset is exempt from equitable distribution, you state the reason and the value claimed to be exempt, and mark the value with an asterisk. The section totals to gross assets, total subject to equitable distribution, and total not subject to equitable distribution.

Four of those fifteen categories are new in the current revision — cryptocurrency and digital currency, children’s accounts, income tax carryover losses and refunds, and the final catch-all — and the bank account line was expanded to name mobile payment app accounts. The 2017 version stopped at eleven categories.

The liability side has seven categories: real estate mortgages, other long-term debts, revolving charges, other short-term debts, contingent liabilities, tax liabilities, and any other liabilities not listed or disclosed. For each you give the name of the responsible party, a reason if you contend the liability should not be shared, the monthly payment, the total owed, and a date. It totals to gross liabilities (expressly excluding contingent liabilities), then net worth, then again a split between what is and is not subject to equitable distribution.

Part F — Statement of Special Problems

A short narrative section asking for a brief statement of any special problems involving the case. The form’s own examples are complex valuation problems, such as a closely held business, and special medical problems of any family member.

Part G — Required Attachments

Part G is a checklist of twelve documents to check off if attached. It is not new — the same twelve items appeared in the 2017 version — but it is the fastest way to confirm you have not left anything out:

  1. A full and complete copy of your last federal and state income tax returns with all schedules and attachments
  2. Last calendar year’s W-2 statements, 1099s, and K-1 statements
  3. Your three most recent pay stubs
  4. Bonus information including percentage overrides and timing of payments, and the last three statements of bonuses and commissions
  5. Your most recent corporate benefit statement or summary showing retirement plans, savings plans, income deferral plans, and insurance benefits
  6. Affidavit of Insurance Coverage as required by R. 5:4-2(f)
  7. List of all prior/pending family actions involving support, custody, or domestic violence, with docket number, county, state, and disposition, plus copies of all existing orders in effect
  8. Details of each wage execution
  9. Schedule of payments made for a spouse or civil union partner and/or children not reflected in Part D
  10. Any agreements between the parties
  11. An Appendix IX Child Support Guideline Worksheet, as applicable, based on available information
  12. If college or post-secondary contribution has been requested, all relevant information — documentation of costs and of reimbursements or assistance sought, such as invoices or receipts for tuition, board, and books; proof of enrollment; and proof of all financial aid, scholarships, grants, and student loans obtained

The form then closes with three certifications you sign and date: that confidential personal identifiers have been redacted from documents submitted now and in the future in accordance with R. 1:38-7(b); that you have disclosed all assets, liabilities, and income to your knowledge; and that the information in the form is true, with an acknowledgment in the form’s own words that “if any of the foregoing information contained therein is willfully false, I am subject to punishment.” The middle certification — the express disclosure certification — is new in the current revision.

Your continuing duty to amend

A CIS is not a one-time snapshot. R. 5:5-2(c) provides that parties “are under a continuing duty in all cases to inform the court of any material changes in the information supplied on the case information statement,” and that “all amendments to the statement shall be filed with the court no later than 20 days before the final hearing.” If you do not, “the court may prohibit a party from introducing into evidence any information not disclosed or it may enter such other order as it deems appropriate.”

In practical terms: if your income changes materially, you lose a job, or you move and your housing costs change, the expectation is that you file an amended CIS rather than explain it for the first time at the hearing. The form’s own instructions make the same point, using a change of residence as the example.

A separate, shorter deadline applies to pendente lite motions: under R. 5:7-2, if a CIS has already been submitted, amendments to it must be filed no later than eight days before the motion hearing date.

The CIS also resurfaces after a case is over. R. 5:5-4(a) provides that when a motion or cross-motion is brought for entry or modification of an alimony or child support order or judgment based on changed circumstances, the moving papers must have appended a copy of the prior CIS or statements filed before entry of the order sought to be modified, plus a current CIS; papers filed in opposition must append all prior case information statements. A 2019 amendment added a fallback: if the prior statements cannot be obtained after diligent effort, or were never prepared, a certification detailing those efforts or the non-existence of the documents is submitted instead.

New Jersey’s alimony statute imposes a parallel requirement for retirement-based applications. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(j)(2) and (j)(3), both the obligor’s application to modify or terminate alimony and the obligee’s response “shall be accompanied by current Case Information Statements or other relevant documents as required by the Rules of Court, as well as the Case Information Statements or other documents from the date of entry of the original alimony award and from the date of any subsequent modification.”

The CIS is confidential

The CIS and everything attached to it are confidential and unavailable for public inspection under R. 5:5-2(f), which points to R. 1:38-3(d)(1). That is different from most court filings, and it is why the form carries a confidentiality notice at the top of page one citing both rules.

Summary support actions use a different form

Not every family financial disclosure in New Jersey is a full CIS, and this is another area the September 1, 2025 amendments changed.

R. 5:5-3 was rewritten effective September 1, 2025 and is now captioned “Financial Statements and Case Information Statements in Summary Support Actions.” Under the amended paragraph (a), in any summary action in which support of a child is in issue, each party — on the filing of the initial pleading, rather than at any point before a hearing — serves on the other party and furnishes the court with a financial statement in a form prescribed by the Administrative Director of the Courts. The rule used to call this an “affidavit or certification”; that wording is gone. The court uses that financial statement and other relevant facts to set child support under R. 5:6A, and a current financial statement plus any prior ones must be filed when an application to modify child support is made.

But a full Family Case Information Statement is required in summary actions in three defined situations, spelled out in amended R. 5:5-3(b): when (1) spousal, civil union partner, or domestic partner support is requested, (2) contribution to college or post-secondary school expenses is requested, or (3) the matter is designated for the complex track. The same paragraph states that a Family Case Information Statement is not required for applications for temporary or final domestic violence restraining orders.

Amended R. 5:5-3(c) adds that if the court finds the party seeking relief has made a prima facie showing of a substantial change in circumstances, or other good cause is shown, the court shall order the non-filing party to file a current financial statement or Family Case Information Statement.

Separately, R. 5:4-2(g) — also amended effective September 1, 2025 — now requires that all initial dissolution and non-dissolution pleadings of each party be accompanied by a completed Confidential Litigant Information Sheet in a form prescribed by the Administrative Director of the Courts. The earlier version applied only to proceedings involving alimony, maintenance, child support, custody, parenting time, visitation, or paternity. The sheet is filed as a separate document, is not affixed to any other pleading, and — worth noting — no copy is served on the opposing party. It is an identifying-information form, not a financial disclosure, and it does not substitute for either the CIS or the R. 5:5-3 financial statement.

Below the fold: if you want a fuller roadmap

Filling out a CIS accurately is one piece of a much bigger process — working out what your support numbers should be, understanding how the guidelines worksheet uses your CIS figures, and knowing what to do if the other party’s numbers look wrong. If you want a structured, plain-English walkthrough of that whole process, the Navigating Child Support book goes deeper than a single blog post can.

FAQ

Do I have to file a CIS if my divorce is completely uncontested?
The rule’s filing requirement in R. 5:5-2(a) is written for contested family actions with an issue as to custody, support, alimony, or equitable distribution. Separately, R. 5:5-2(e) provides that where an agreement or settlement contains an award of alimony, the parties must do one of four things: include a declaration that the marital, civil union, or domestic partnership standard of living is satisfied by the agreement; define that standard of living by stipulation; preserve copies of their filed Family Case Information Statements until alimony terminates; or, if a party has not filed a CIS, prepare Part D (“Monthly Expenses”), serve a copy on the other party, and preserve it until alimony terminates. Whether your particular county or judge expects a full CIS in an otherwise uncontested case is a matter of local practice that the rule does not answer — confirm with the Family Division Manager’s office in your county of venue before you assume you can skip it.

What does the rule say happens if the CIS is not filed on time?
R. 5:5-2(b) provides that the court, on its own motion or a party’s, may — on notice to all parties — dismiss that party’s pleadings for failure to have filed a case information statement, and that dismissed pleadings are subject to reinstatement “upon such conditions as the court may deem just.” The rule does not list what those conditions are; that is left to the court. Note also that the same paragraph allows the court to designate a filing time other than the 20-day default.

Do I need to refile the whole CIS every time something changes?
R. 5:5-2(c) imposes a continuing duty to inform the court of material changes, and requires amendments to be filed no later than 20 days before the final hearing. If you do not, the rule allows the court to prohibit you from introducing the undisclosed information into evidence, or to enter another order it deems appropriate. For pendente lite motions, R. 5:7-2 sets an eight-day-before-the-hearing deadline for amendments.

What’s the difference between the “joint life style” and “current life style” columns in Part D?
The form defines Joint Life Style as the standard of living established during the marriage or civil union, for the family including the children, and Current Life Style as yours and the children’s now. Both columns are completed across Schedules A through D.

Is a CIS required in a child-support-only case that isn’t part of a divorce?
Usually a shorter document is used, but not always. Under amended R. 5:5-3(a), a summary action in which child support is at issue calls for a financial statement in a form prescribed by the Administrative Director of the Courts, filed with the initial pleading. But R. 5:5-3(b) requires a full Family Case Information Statement in a summary action when spousal or partner support is requested, when contribution to college or post-secondary expenses is requested, or when the matter is designated for the complex track. A CIS is not required for temporary or final domestic violence restraining order applications.

Where do I get the current official CIS form?
From the New Jersey Judiciary’s forms site as CN 10482. Because Appendix V was deleted from the Court Rules effective September 1, 2025, a copy pulled from an old rule-book appendix is no longer the operative version. Check the revision date printed at the bottom of each page — the current one reads “Revised: 08/2025, Effective: 09/01/2025, CN:10482” — since older versions circulate widely online.

This article is for general educational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and it does not predict how any court will rule on your case. Court rules and forms change; verify the current version before you file. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed New Jersey attorney, or contact the Family Division Manager’s office in your county of venue for procedural questions.

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