NJ Case Information Statement: Filing, Parts, and Deadlines

The New Jersey Case Information Statement, known as the CIS, is the sworn financial disclosure both spouses must file in any contested divorce that involves alimony, child support, custody, or the division of marital property. Court Rule 5:5-2 makes it mandatory, and it is due within 20 days after the other party files an Answer or Appearance.¹ The form captures nearly every detail of your financial life, and the numbers you enter shape how a judge decides support, alimony, and who keeps which assets.

When the CIS Is Required

The CIS is mandatory in all contested family actions where finances are in play: alimony, child support, or equitable distribution of assets and debts. If you and your spouse agree on every financial term, or if the case raises no financial claims at all, the court can waive it.¹ Summary dissolutions with no economic disputes also bypass the form. Most New Jersey divorces involve at least one financial issue, so most people going through one will need to complete a CIS.

Beyond satisfying the rule, the CIS establishes your marital lifestyle, which is a key factor in alimony and support calculations. Judges rely on it to test whether proposed support figures are reasonable and to identify assets subject to equitable distribution.²

Filing Deadline and Where It Goes

File the completed CIS with the Family Division of the Superior Court in the county where your divorce is pending. The 20-day clock starts when the defendant files an Answer or Appearance.¹ Most filings go through JEDS, the Judiciary Electronic Document Submission system, which accepts documents around the clock.³

A complete copy, with every financial attachment, must also be served on the opposing party or their attorney before the Case Management Conference. At that conference, the judge confirms both CIS filings have been received and sets deadlines for the rest of the case.⁴

Documents to Pull Before You Open the Form

Gathering records first saves hours later. At a minimum, you need:

A full copy of your most recently filed federal and state income tax returns, including every schedule and attachment.
W-2 statements, 1099s, and K-1 statements from your last calendar year.
Your three most recent pay stubs from every source of employment.
A corporate benefits statement covering retirement plans, savings plans, income deferral plans, and insurance benefits provided through your employer or business.
Bank and credit card statements from the past 24 months, which the CIS instructions specify as the basis for calculating monthly expenses.²

The 24-month lookback exists for a reason. Shorter windows miss seasonal spending like holiday costs, summer childcare, or annual insurance premiums, and judges expect the expense figures to reflect reality.

If you are self-employed or own a business, attach Schedule C filings along with any corporate benefit statements. For closely held businesses, partnerships, or professional practices, the CIS flags these as potential complex valuation problems that may require special attention.²

What Each Part of the Form Asks For

The CIS is divided into lettered sections. Every field needs an answer, even if the answer is zero or not applicable.

Part A: Case Information

Names and addresses of both parties, children’s names and birthdates, and which parent the children live with.² Check spellings and dates. Errors here create problems later.

Part B: Miscellaneous Information

Insurance coverage obtained through employment or a business, plus background details about the family. Self-employed parties also provide business name and address here.²

Part C: Income Information

Gross and net earnings, reconciled against your tax returns and pay stubs. You complete this for yourself and, to the extent you know it, for the other party.² Corporate benefits and fringe benefit documentation attach here. Income data drives both alimony and child support, and any gap between what you report and what your tax filings show will draw immediate scrutiny.

Part D: Monthly Expenses

This is where most people struggle. The form uses a 4.3-week month and asks for two columns: the joint marital lifestyle during the marriage, and your current expenses.² The marital lifestyle column tells the judge what standard of living the marriage established, which matters for alimony. The current column shows what you actually spend now.

Categories cover shelter costs (mortgage or rent, property taxes), transportation, food, clothing, healthcare, and personal expenses. Base every figure on actual expenditures from checkbook registers, bank statements, and credit card records over the past 24 months. Judges see hundreds of these forms, and inflated numbers stand out.

Part E: Balance Sheet of Assets and Liabilities

The Statement of Assets lists everything the family owns: real estate, bank accounts, retirement plans like 401(k)s and IRAs, businesses, partnerships, professional practices, vehicles, and personal property. For each one, you report fair market value, who holds title, and the date of acquisition or valuation.²

The Statement of Liabilities lists every debt: mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit cards, and any other obligations. For each, you report the total owed, the monthly payment, and whether you believe the debt should be shared or assigned to one party. The section closes with a net worth calculation that distinguishes property subject to equitable distribution from property that is not.

Part F: Statement of Special Problems

A brief narrative describing anything unusual: complex valuation issues such as a closely held business, or special medical problems affecting any family member.² Flagging these early signals to the judge that certain issues will need extra time.

Part G: Required Attachments and Certification

List and attach every supporting document: tax returns, W-2s, 1099s, K-1 statements, pay stubs, and the corporate benefits statement. Then you sign a certification that everything in the CIS is true, with an acknowledgment that false statements subject you to punishment.²

Redaction and Confidential Information

Because the CIS contains sensitive data, Court Rule 1:38-7 requires you to redact Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, insurance policy numbers, and active financial account or credit card numbers from anything filed with the court. If a financial account is the subject of the litigation, you may include the last four digits to identify it, but nothing more. The CIS asks you to certify that all confidential personal identifiers have been redacted and that future filings will comply.⁵ The clerk will not check your work; the responsibility is yours.

Separately, both parties file a Confidential Litigant Information Sheet when the complaint is filed. It collects full Social Security numbers and similar data, and it stays in a confidential file that is not shared with the other party.⁶

Your Duty to Update

Filing the CIS is not a one-time task. The rules require you to amend it when your circumstances change. The instructions give a practical example: if you move out of the marital home and start renting an apartment, file an amended CIS showing your new housing costs and living expenses.²

Other common triggers include a job change, a raise or pay cut, the sale of a major asset, new debts, or a change in a child’s living arrangements. Divorces can drag on for months or years, and a CIS that was accurate on filing day can be badly outdated by trial. An amended CIS keeps the judge working with current numbers and protects you from any argument that your original filing was misleading.

What Happens If You Don’t File or You File Incorrectly

The penalties here are serious enough to take seriously.

Failure to File

Under Court Rule 5:5-2, the court can dismiss your pleadings for failure to file a CIS. Your complaint or counterclaim gets thrown out. Pleadings can be reinstated, but only on conditions the court considers appropriate.⁷ Even a temporary dismissal weakens your position and delays the case.

Incomplete or Misleading Information

If you omit information or provide misleading figures, the court can bar you from introducing that undisclosed information as evidence later. The judge can also enter any other order deemed appropriate, which gives wide latitude for sanctions.⁷ Leave a bank account off your CIS, for example, and the judge can prevent you from claiming that account as separate property at trial.

False Certification

The certification in Part G is not a formality. New Jersey’s certification rule requires you to acknowledge that willfully false statements subject you to punishment.⁸ Under New Jersey criminal law, making a false statement under oath or equivalent certification in an official proceeding is perjury, a third-degree crime.⁹ A false statement that falls short of the perjury threshold can qualify as false swearing, a fourth-degree crime.¹⁰ Criminal prosecution for CIS fraud is rare, but judges regularly impose civil sanctions, counsel fees, and adverse inferences when they catch a lie on a financial disclosure.

1
New Jersey Courts. Appendix V – Family Part Case Information Statement
2
New Jersey Courts. Family Part Case Information Statement
3
New Jersey Courts. Judiciary Electronic Document Submission (JEDS)
4
New Jersey Courts. Dissolution (FM) Case Management Order
5
Court Caddy. New Jersey Court Rule 1:38 – Public Access to Court Records
6
New Jersey Courts. Confidential Litigant Information Sheet
7
Court Caddy. New Jersey Court Rule 5:5 – Pretrial Procedures
8
Court Caddy. New Jersey Court Rule 1:4 – Form and Execution of Papers
9
Justia Law. New Jersey Code 2C:28-1 – Perjury
10
Justia Law. New Jersey Code 2C:28-2 – False Swearing