How to Fill Out and File a Child Information Form for Custody

A child information form, usually titled a UCCJEA affidavit in your state’s court system, is a sworn document that identifies every minor in your family law case and tells the judge where each child has lived for the past five years. You fill out the child information form for custody by collecting each child’s identifying details and residential history, completing your state’s version of the affidavit, signing it before a notary, filing it with your petition, and serving a copy on the other party. Every state except Massachusetts has adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, which requires this disclosure in the first pleading of any custody-related case.

When the Form Is Required

Any family court case that could affect custody, visitation, or parenting time for a minor triggers this filing. That includes divorce with children, legal separation, paternity actions, standalone custody or child support petitions, and requests for temporary custody by extended family members. You also need a new or updated form when you return to court to modify an existing custody or visitation order.

It is not optional, and it is not limited to contested cases. Florida’s Form 12.902(d) states the affidavit is “required even if the parental responsibility for, custody of, or time-sharing or visitation with, the minor child(ren) is not in dispute.”¹ Skip it or leave it incomplete, and the court can stay the entire proceeding until you comply.

What to Gather Before You Start

Tracking down old addresses mid-form wastes time. Pull everything together first.

Each Child’s Identifying Details

You need every child’s full legal name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth. Many state forms also ask for the Social Security number, though federal privacy rules limit what appears in the public court file to the last four digits.² Gather the full number anyway, because some jurisdictions collect it on a separate confidential cover sheet for child support enforcement.

A Full Five-Year Residential History

The UCCJEA requires each party to provide, under oath, “the child’s present address or whereabouts, the places where the child has lived during the last five years, and the names and present addresses of the persons with whom the child has lived during that period.”³ For a child under five, this covers their entire life from birth.

Write down every address, the approximate dates the child lived there, and the full name of every adult in the household during each period. This is where most people stumble. A forgotten six-month stay with a grandparent or a temporary move between apartments can leave a gap the court will question. Check old leases, school enrollment records, or utility bills if your memory is fuzzy.

Other Custody Proceedings and Court Orders

The form asks whether you have been a party to, witness in, or participant in any other custody proceeding involving the same child. You must also disclose any related proceedings you know about, including domestic violence cases, protective orders, termination-of-parental-rights actions, and adoptions.³ For each one you need the court name, case number, and nature of the proceeding. Failing to disclose an existing order from another state is one of the fastest ways to lose credibility with the judge.

Anyone Else Claiming Custody or Visitation

If someone who is not a party to your case has physical custody of the child or claims custody or visitation rights, list their names and addresses. That could be a grandparent, stepparent, or other relative. The court uses this to decide whether additional parties should be notified or joined.

Finding the Right Form for Your State

There is no single nationwide version. Each state publishes its own form that tracks the UCCJEA requirements, sometimes with extra state-specific questions. Search your state court system’s website for “UCCJEA affidavit,” “child custody jurisdiction affidavit,” or “child information form” along with your state name. In Florida the form is numbered 12.902(d).⁴ Ohio includes it in its Uniform Domestic Relations Forms series.⁵ Your county clerk’s office can hand you the correct version if the website is hard to navigate.

Download or pick up the form that matches your specific case type. A dissolution petition may bundle the child information affidavit differently than a standalone custody filing. Read the accompanying instructions before filling anything in. Many states publish a separate instruction page that walks through each field, and skipping it is how people end up refiling.

Filling Out the Form

Work through it in the order it is printed. Most versions follow the same general sequence: case caption at the top (your name, the other party’s name, and the case number if one has been assigned), then child identification, residential history, and disclosures about other proceedings.

For the residential history section, list addresses in reverse chronological order. Current address first, then work backward through the five-year window. Include the full street address, city, state, and zip code. Next to each address, write the dates the child lived there and the names of every person who lived in that household. If dates overlap because the child split time between two homes, list both addresses for that period and note the arrangement.

For the disclosure sections, answer every question even if the answer is “none.” A blank field looks like you forgot or are hiding something. If there are no other proceedings, write “none” or check the “no” box explicitly.

Signing Under Oath

The form is not complete until you sign it under oath. That means signing in front of a notary public or a deputy clerk at the courthouse, not at your kitchen table.¹ The sworn statement typically reads along the lines of “I certify that the following statements are true,” and your signature converts everything on the form into testimony. False statements carry the same consequences as lying on the witness stand: potential contempt sanctions, fines, or jail time depending on your jurisdiction.

Do not sign before you arrive at the notary or clerk’s office. They need to watch you sign. Bring a valid government-issued photo ID so the notary can verify your identity.

Filing With the Court

Once signed and notarized, file the form with the clerk of court in the county where your case is pending. Many states now require or allow electronic filing through a statewide portal; Florida, for instance, mandates its Courts E-Filing Portal for most case types. In-person filing at the clerk’s window is still available in many jurisdictions.

The child information form is typically filed alongside your initial petition (divorce, custody, paternity, and so on), not as a standalone document. Filing fees apply to the petition itself, not separately to the affidavit. If you cannot afford the fee, ask the clerk for a fee-waiver application.

Serving the Other Party

Filing with the court is only half the job. You must also serve a copy on the other parent or any other party in the case. This service of process step ensures everyone involved sees what you submitted and has the chance to challenge inaccuracies. Most jurisdictions require personal service for the initial petition and its attachments, meaning a process server, sheriff’s deputy, or other authorized person physically hands the documents to the respondent.

After service is completed, file proof of service with the court. That is a signed form from the person who delivered the papers confirming the date, time, and location of delivery.⁶ Without that proof on file, the court will not schedule a hearing.

Privacy and Safety Protections

Redacting Sensitive Identifiers

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 requires that any filing, electronic or paper, include only the last four digits of a Social Security number and only the year of an individual’s birth, not the full date.² The responsibility for redacting falls on you and your attorney, not the clerk. State courts often have parallel rules, so check your local privacy guidelines before filing.

Sealing Addresses in Domestic Violence Cases

If disclosing your address or the child’s address would put anyone’s health, safety, or liberty at risk, the UCCJEA provides a way to keep that information sealed. When a party alleges in the sworn statement that disclosure would create a safety risk, “the court shall seal and not disclose that information to the other party or the public unless the court orders the disclosure after a hearing.”³ If you have an active protective order, flag this on the form and file any separate confidential-address request your jurisdiction requires.⁷

Keep the Court Updated

Filing once does not end your obligation. The UCCJEA imposes a continuing duty to inform the court of any proceeding in your state or another state that could affect the current custody case.³ If the child moves, if a new protective order is entered, or if someone else files a custody action in a different court, notify the judge handling your case promptly. In practice that usually means filing an amended or supplemental affidavit with the updated information.

Neglecting this duty can result in sanctions and can undermine your position if the judge learns of the omission from the other side. Courts rely on these affidavits to confirm they have jurisdiction at all, since home-state jurisdiction under the UCCJEA turns on where the child lived for the six months before the proceeding began.⁸

1
Florida Courts. Instructions for Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.902(d) Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) Affidavit
2
Legal Information Institute. Rule 5.2 Privacy Protection for Filings Made With the Court
3
U.S. Department of State. Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act – Section 209
4
Florida Courts. Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Affidavit
5
Supreme Court of Ohio. Domestic Relations and Juvenile Standardized
6
California Courts. Proof of Personal Service (FL-330)
7
Florida Courts. Request for Confidential Filing of Address
8
Office of Justice Programs. The Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act