Are these the most current forms?

In most states, divorce forms have a revision date, usually listed in the footer at the bottom of the page, but sometimes in the header. The revision date represents the last date that the document was changed by the state or county agency that created it. Depending on the jurisdiction, many years can pass without a revision.

1. A form can be current despite having a revision date from a decade ago or more.

Do not assume that forms are outdated because the revision date is not the current year or even within many years of the current year. Several years usually pass between revisions. For example, in 2024, New York updated several forms, a few of which had not been updated since 1999. This is because divorce laws do not change often so there is no need to revise the forms. Even when a form revision date is updated, the changes are more often related to the format and appearance of the form rather than the content.

2. A state may revise one or more forms at once, but rarely revises them all.

When a state revises forms, usually only some documents are revised. It is not unusual for one or two forms to be updated while the other forms remain unchanged. Child support worksheets are more commonly revised than any other form because state child support schedules are revised fairly often. That being said, even when schedules are annually revised, generally the worksheets themselves are not revised as often because the schedule changes do not affect the worksheet itself.

3. A state version of a form may have a different revision date than a county version.

Sometimes a state has approved forms that must be accepted by courts in all counties, but a county will still choose to maintain its own version of the forms. The forms are often the same substantively, but may look different because of variations in formatting and may also have different revision dates. Usually counties accept either, even if the state form revision date is not as recent.