Income Documentation and Financial Disclosure in North Carolina

Income verification under the guidelines

Child support is calculated on the parents’ current incomes at the time the order is entered. The Child Support Guidelines (AOC-A-162, effective January 1, 2023) say income statements should be verified through documentation of both current and past income:

• Current earnings, at least one full month: pay stubs, employer statements, or, if self-employed, business receipts and expenses.
• The most recent tax return, to verify earnings over a longer period.

The guidelines allow sanctions for failing to comply, on a party’s motion or the court’s own motion.

What to bring to child support court

The Judicial Branch suggests that the person asking for support bring proof of income and documentation of expenses paid for the child, such as day care receipts and medical bills, plus proof of any other children living in the home. The person who will pay should bring proof of income and of any payments made to the other parent or expenses paid for the children. The statewide motion to modify support tells both parties to bring wage stubs or other proof of current gross income, the cost of the child’s health insurance, work-related child care costs, and extraordinary expenses (AOC-CV-600, Motion and Notice of Hearing for Modification of Child Support Order (Rev. 1/22)).

Forms filed in non-IV-D support cases

• The AOC-CV-640, Cover Sheet for Child Support Cases (Non-IV-D Only) (Rev. 1/22) is filed in non-IV-D cases, unless a complete and current one is already on file, when you file a pleading seeking support (including a custody complaint or answer that asks for support), file a motion to modify support, or submit a proposed support order. Its instructions say to file it with a Certification of Identity for Child Support Cases (AOC-CV-645) and the domestic, motion, or order cover sheet when required.
• Each party in a support action must give the clerk their Social Security number (G.S. 50-13.4(g)).

Local financial affidavits

Beyond the guidelines and the forms above, financial disclosure requirements can come from your judicial district’s local rules. Your district’s domestic or family court rules may require a sworn financial affidavit or the exchange of specific documents before a support hearing. Check the rules for your district in the Judicial Branch’s local rules and forms library, or ask the clerk.

Getting information the other parent will not share

• Discovery. Interrogatories answered under oath (Rule 33) and requests to produce documents such as tax returns, pay records, and bank statements (Rule 34). See the evidence guide for limits and deadlines.
• Subpoenas. A subpoena can require a nonparty, such as an employer, to produce records (Rule 45).
• Insurance information. When a parent is required to provide health insurance, that parent’s employer or insurer must release to the other party, on written request, the child’s coverage information it could release to the insured parent (G.S. 50-13.11(c)).

If you are also dividing property

Equitable distribution of marital property is separate from custody and child support. Within 90 days after service of a claim for equitable distribution, the party who first asserts the claim must serve an inventory affidavit listing marital and separate property with estimated date-of-separation values, and the other party must serve one within 30 days after that. The court may extend these times for good cause (G.S. 50-21(a)).

Primary sources

Statutes, rules, and forms change. Check the current version at the source before you file.

• North Carolina Child Support Guidelines, AOC-A-162
• G.S. 50-13.4, action for support of minor child
• G.S. 50-13.11, medical support and health insurance
• G.S. 50-21, equitable distribution procedures
• Rules of Civil Procedure (G.S. 1A-1), Rules 33, 34, and 45
• AOC-CV-640, Cover Sheet for Child Support Cases (Non-IV-D Only)
• AOC-CV-600, Motion and Notice of Hearing for Modification of Child Support Order
• North Carolina Judicial Branch, Child Support help topic
• North Carolina Judicial Branch, local rules and forms