By Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce · Updated
Alberta has two ways of making the other side hand over financial documents in a support case, and they look alike from the receiving end: a demand, a list of documents, a month to comply. One is the Notice to Disclose, a court form under Rule 12.41. The other is the written request for financial information under section 65 of the Family Law Act, which needs no form at all. This guide is about the second one: what the Act lets it demand, where the one-month period comes from, and what the court can do if it is ignored. This guide is for Alberta. Section 65 of the Family Law Act and Rule 12.42 of the Alberta Rules of Court are Alberta provisions, and the request they create arises in a support application under that Act. A divorce action in Alberta usually runs on the Notice to Disclose instead, which has its own guide. Ontario and British Columbia use financial statement forms under their own rules.
| What it is | A written request from one party to another, in a support application under the Family Law Act, for the financial information the regulations prescribe. |
|---|---|
| The statute | Section 65(1): a party "shall, on the written request of another party, provide the other party with financial information as provided for by the regulations that is necessary for the determination of support." |
| The deadline | Rule 12.42(1): the information "must be provided within one month after the request is received." |
| Child support documents | Those listed in section 21(1) of the Alberta Child Support Guidelines: three years of tax returns and assessments, pay statements, business and corporate financials, partnership and trust records. |
| Spousal or partner support documents | Those listed in section 4(1) of the Family Law Act General Regulation: the same core list, plus current statements for benefit, pension and other income and, if self-employed, six weeks of cheques. |
| If it is ignored | Section 65(2): the court may hear the application and impute income, order compliance, or order an employer or partner to produce the information. |
| If an order is ignored | Section 65(3): dismissal of the party's own application, contempt, imputed income, or costs "up to an amount that fully compensates the other party." |
| No form | The Act requires a written request, not a prescribed form. It can arrive as a lawyer's letter. |
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Section 65(1) of the Family Law Act is the source, and it is one sentence: "In an application under this Part, a party shall, on the written request of another party, provide the other party with financial information as provided for by the regulations that is necessary for the determination of support."
Three words in that sentence do the work. "Shall" makes it an obligation, not an invitation. "Written request" is the trigger, and nothing in the section requires a court form, a court file or a hearing. And "as provided for by the regulations" is what stops the request from being open-ended: the documents that can be demanded are the ones the regulations list, not whatever the requesting lawyer would like to see.
Rule 12.42 of the Alberta Rules of Court supplies the two things the Act leaves out: the deadline and the lists.
Rule 12.42(1): "Where a written request for financial information has been made under section 65(1) or (4) of the Family Law Act, the information must be provided within one month after the request is received."
Rule 12.42(2): the documents that may be requested are, for child support, "those documents listed in section 21(1) of the Alberta Child Support Guidelines," and for spousal or adult interdependent partner support, "those documents listed in section 4(1) of the Family Law Act General Regulation."
The period runs from receipt. Rule 12.42(1) says "within one month after the request is received," which is a different starting point from the Notice to Disclose, whose month runs from service. In practice both mean the day the request reached you, and the safe course is to record that day and count a month forward from it.
There is no shorter period for a request served in Alberta and no longer one for a request received elsewhere. One month is the whole rule.
Section 21(1) of the Alberta Child Support Guidelines is written as the list a parent applying for child support must file, and Rule 12.42(2)(a) makes it the list a section 65 request can demand. In the regulation's words, it requires:
"a copy of every personal income tax return filed by the parent for each of the 3 most recent taxation years";. "a copy of every notice of assessment and reassessment issued to the parent for each of the 3 most recent taxation years";. for an employee, "the 3 most recent statements of earnings indicating the total earnings paid in the year to date, including overtime," or a letter from the employer setting out that information and the annual salary;. for a self-employed parent, for the three most recent taxation years, the financial statements of the business or practice and "a statement showing a breakdown of all salaries, wages, management fees or other payments or benefits paid to, or on behalf of, persons or corporations with whom the parent does not deal at arm's length";. for a partner in a partnership, confirmation of income, draw and capital for the partnership's three most recent taxation years;. for a parent who controls a corporation "or has an interest of 1% or more in a privately held corporation," the corporation's financial statements and the same non-arm's-length breakdown, for three years;. for a beneficiary under a trust, the trust settlement agreement and the trust's three most recent financial statements;. for a student, a statement of the total student funding received in the current academic year.
The pattern is three years of everything, and the items that take longest are the business, corporate, partnership and trust records. If any of those apply to you, they set the timetable.
Section 4(1) of the Family Law Act General Regulation is the parallel list for spousal support and adult interdependent partner support. It repeats the three years of tax returns and notices of assessment and the three most recent statements of earnings, and adds:
for a party receiving "income from employment insurance, social assistance, a pension, workers' compensation, disability payments, dividends or any other source, the most recent statement of income indicating the total amount of income from the applicable source during the current year," or a letter from the appropriate authority;. for a student, the same statement of funding;. for a self-employed party, "particulars or copies of every cheque issued to the party during the 6 most recent weeks from any business or corporation in which the party has an interest or to which the party has rendered a service," together with three years of financial statements and the non-arm's-length breakdown.
The six weeks of cheques is the item people do not expect, and it is in the regulation.
The Act is explicit, and it escalates.
Section 65(2): if a party fails to comply with a request, the court may "proceed to hear the application for support, in the course of which it may draw an adverse inference against the party and impute income to that party in such amount as it considers appropriate," or "order the party to comply with the request," or order "an employer, partner or principal of the party or any other person" to provide the information directly.
Section 65(3): if a party then fails to comply with an order to comply, the court may "dismiss any or all of the party's application," "make a contempt order against the party," proceed to hear the support application with an adverse inference and imputed income, or "award costs in favour of the other party up to an amount that fully compensates the other party for all costs incurred in the proceeding."
Imputed income is the consequence to understand. A party who does not produce their income documents can have an income assigned to them by the court, and support calculated on it. That figure is chosen from the evidence the other side has, not from yours.
Both are Alberta, both are about money, both give a month. The differences matter.
Source. The Notice to Disclose is a court form (Form FL-17) under Rule 12.41. The section 65 request is a written request under the Family Law Act, with no prescribed form.
Scope. The Notice to Disclose lists sixteen categories, including bank and credit card statements, a monthly budget, a sworn statement of assets and liabilities, and property exemptions. The section 65 request is confined to the income documents the regulations list, because its purpose is "the determination of support."
Proceeding. Section 65 sits in the support Part of the Family Law Act, so the request arises in an application under that Act. A divorce action in the Court of King's Bench typically uses the Notice to Disclose. It is possible to meet both in one case.
Clock. Notice to Disclose: one month from service. Section 65 request: one month from receipt.
Consequences. The Notice to Disclose leads to a desk application for a Disclosure Order. The section 65 request leads to the court's powers under subsections (2) and (3): imputed income, a compliance order, third-party production, and on a second failure, dismissal, contempt or full-indemnity costs.
Record the date you received it. The month runs from receipt.
Identify which list applies. A child support request is measured against section 21(1) of the Guidelines; a spousal or partner support request against section 4(1) of the General Regulation. If the request asks for something not on the applicable list, note it; the Act ties the obligation to the regulations.
Start the three-year items and the third-party items first. Tax returns and notices of assessment can be pulled from your tax account. Corporate financials, partnership confirmations and trust statements come from an accountant or a trustee on their timetable.
Produce in the order of the list, labelled. A package organised to the regulation's paragraphs answers the request in a way that is easy to check and hard to dispute.
Say in writing what is outstanding and when it will come. A month is short for corporate records. A written explanation before the month ends is what keeps a delay from becoming a failure to comply.
Keep a copy of exactly what you sent, and when. The court's powers under section 65 turn on whether you complied. The record of compliance is yours to keep.
Verification note. Section 65(4) of the Family Law Act, which Rule 12.42(1) also references, was not read for this page; the request described here is the one under section 65(1). Section 21(1) of the Guidelines and section 4(1) of the General Regulation were read to paragraph (h) and paragraph (f) respectively; any later paragraphs are not summarised. Whether a section 65 request can be used in a proceeding under the Divorce Act, as opposed to the Family Law Act, is a question this page does not answer; ask your lawyer.
No. Section 65(1) requires a "written request." A letter from the other party's lawyer that asks for the financial information the regulations prescribe is a request under the section. Rule 12.42 then applies the one-month period.
The section limits the request to "financial information as provided for by the regulations that is necessary for the determination of support," and Rule 12.42(2) names the two lists. Items outside those lists are not what the section compels, though the court can order broader disclosure on application.
The regulations ask for copies of every return "filed" and every notice of assessment "issued." If returns were not filed, say so in writing and explain what you can produce instead; and understand that a party with no income documents is the party most exposed to imputed income under section 65(2).
No. See the comparison above. The Notice to Disclose is a court form with sixteen categories under Rule 12.41; the section 65 request is a written demand for the regulation's income documents. They can both appear in one case.
The court assigns you an income figure for the purpose of calculating support, based on the evidence available, rather than on documents you did not produce. Section 65(2)(a) and (3)(c) both allow it "in such amount as it considers appropriate."
Rule 12.42(1) sets one month. An extension is something the other party agrees to in writing or the court orders; it is not something the rule gives you. If you will be late on particular items, say so before the month ends, name the items, and give a date.
Last reviewed September 2026. Researched and written by Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice — laws, fees and forms change, so please confirm current details with the official sources above or a local family lawyer.
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