If you have been told to prepare a “Form FS2” financial disclosure affidavit for an Irish Circuit Court family law case, the form you actually need is Form 37A — Affidavit of Means. No form called FS2 exists on the Courts Service website or in the Circuit Court Rules. Form 37A is the sworn financial statement both spouses must file in divorce, judicial separation, and maintenance proceedings under Order 59 of the Circuit Court Rules, setting out income, assets, debts, weekly spending, and pensions across five schedules.
Where to Get the Form
The Courts Service of Ireland publishes Form 37A as a downloadable PDF on its website, listed under the Affidavit of Means heading for family law matters. It covers proceedings under the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act 1976, the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989, the Family Law Act 1995, and the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996.1The Courts Service of Ireland. Affidavit of Means – Family Law Acts A direct link to the PDF also appears on the Form 37A page of courts.ie.2Courts.ie. Form 37A – Affidavit of Means
What Goes in Each of the Five Schedules
Form 37A organizes your financial life into five schedules. Knowing what belongs in each one before you start saves back-and-forth with your solicitor and prevents problems at the court office.
- First Schedule, Assets: every asset you own or hold a beneficial interest in, including property, bank accounts, savings, investments, vehicles, and other items of value. State how each is held: solely, jointly, or in trust.
- Second Schedule, Income: all sources of income, with the specific source identified for each. Wages, self-employment earnings, social welfare payments, rental income, investment returns, and any other regular receipts belong here.
- Third Schedule, Debts and Liabilities: every debt you owe and the person or institution you owe it to. Mortgages, personal loans, credit cards, hire purchase, and tax liabilities all go in.
- Fourth Schedule, Weekly Expenditure: your weekly outgoings covering housing, utilities, food, transport, insurance, childcare, medical costs, and other regular spending. The weekly total is also stated in the body of the affidavit.
- Fifth Schedule, Pension: all pension information relevant to the proceedings, including the nature of the scheme, the benefits payable, your normal pensionable age, and your period of reckonable service.
You must also give equivalent information, to the best of your knowledge, about any dependent family member’s income, assets, debts, and spending.3Irish Statute Book. SI No 427/2018 – Circuit Court Rules (Family Law) 2018
Gathering the Records You Need
Before you open the form, pull together the paperwork for each schedule.
For income, gather recent payslips, P60s or employment detail summaries, social welfare records, and any rental or dividend statements. For assets, get current bank and savings statements, property valuations or recent sale comparables, pension benefit statements, and vehicle registration documents with estimated values. For debts, collect recent mortgage statements, loan agreements, credit card statements, and any correspondence about outstanding tax.
Weekly expenditure is the schedule most people underestimate. Work through at least three months of bank statements and credit card records to catch recurring costs that are easy to forget: subscriptions, insurance premiums, school expenses, and irregular bills that average out across the year. Convert everything to a weekly figure, because that is the timeframe the form uses.
If you hold an interest in a private business, you will need a realistic current valuation, and that often means an accountant. Pension information can take weeks to come back from scheme administrators, so request it early.
Completing the Form
Fill in each schedule using the documents you gathered. Every figure should reflect your current position, not last year’s numbers. Where a value fluctuates, such as an investment account, use the most recent statement date and note that date. Keep the timeframes consistent. Mixing monthly and weekly figures across different schedules is a common mistake that forces the court to guess at your real position.
The sworn statements in the body of the form are pre-printed. You affirm that the First Schedule lists all assets you legally or beneficially own, the Second Schedule lists all your income and its sources, the Third Schedule covers all debts and who you owe, the Fourth Schedule details your weekly outgoings, and the Fifth Schedule contains all pension information relevant to the case.1The Courts Service of Ireland. Affidavit of Means – Family Law Acts “All” means all. Leaving something out, even unintentionally, damages your credibility with the judge.
Swearing the Affidavit
A completed Form 37A is not yet a legal document until you swear it. Bring the unsigned form to a Commissioner for Oaths or a practising solicitor. It cannot be your own solicitor in the case, because the oath must be administered independently. You sign the affidavit in their presence, and they complete and sign the jurat confirming it was properly sworn.4Citizens Information. Affidavits
The fees a Commissioner for Oaths can charge are set by the Rules of the Superior Courts: €10 for each signature and €2 for each exhibit, up to a maximum of €30 in exhibit fees.5Citizens Information. Commissioners for Oaths Even with several exhibits attached, the total usually comes in under €40.
Filing and Serving the Affidavit
Once sworn, the affidavit must be filed at the relevant Circuit Court office and served on the other party. The timing depends on which side of the case you are on.
If you are the applicant, the spouse initiating proceedings, your Affidavit of Means is filed together with the Family Law Civil Bill at the start of the case. The Civil Bill is then served on the respondent along with a copy of the filed affidavit.3Irish Statute Book. SI No 427/2018 – Circuit Court Rules (Family Law) 2018
If you are the respondent, your Affidavit of Means must be filed and served together with your Defence. Even if you do not file a Defence, you still have to file and serve the affidavit within 20 days of being served with the Civil Bill.3Irish Statute Book. SI No 427/2018 – Circuit Court Rules (Family Law) 2018 That 20-day deadline is strict and catches many respondents off guard, particularly those who have not yet instructed a solicitor.
Filing an affidavit at the Circuit Court office costs €15.6Courts.ie. Circuit Court Fees
Vouching What You Filed
Filing is not the end of the paperwork. Under Order 59, once a Defence or Counterclaim has been filed, both parties must vouch their Affidavit of Means. Vouching means handing over the actual supporting documents, such as bank statements, payslips, property valuations, and pension statements, that back up the figures in each schedule. The deadline is 28 days after the respondent’s Affidavit of Means is filed, or 21 days before the case progression hearing, whichever comes first. Either side can waive vouching in writing, but that is uncommon.3Irish Statute Book. SI No 427/2018 – Circuit Court Rules (Family Law) 2018
If you fail to vouch on time, the other side can apply to the court or the County Registrar for an order compelling you to do so, potentially with costs. The court can also make an order for discovery or any other order it considers appropriate, which in practice means your case stalls until you comply.
Keeping the Affidavit Current
Your duty of accurate financial disclosure does not end when you file. Family law cases can take months to reach a hearing, and financial circumstances change. A job loss, inheritance, property sale, or new debt can all materially alter the picture the court is working from. If your position shifts significantly before the case concludes, file an updated Affidavit of Means so the court’s eventual orders reflect reality rather than a stale snapshot.
Judges making final orders need current data. If the other side later discovers that your circumstances changed and you said nothing, the court can draw adverse inferences about your credibility, revisit orders already made, or impose costs. The duty runs until the final decree is signed.
Consequences of Incomplete or False Disclosure
Because Form 37A is sworn, everything in it carries the weight of an oath. Deliberately omitting assets, understating income, or inflating debts can amount to perjury. Within the family law case itself, the court has broad powers under Order 59 to compel disclosure, order discovery, and make whatever further orders it considers necessary when a party fails to comply with the financial disclosure rules.3Irish Statute Book. SI No 427/2018 – Circuit Court Rules (Family Law) 2018 The financial cost of relitigating property division or maintenance after hidden figures come to light far exceeds whatever short-term advantage the nondisclosure was meant to achieve.