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UCCJEA Affidavit (12.902(d)): What It Is and How to Complete It

Reviewed by the Amicably document team · Updated September 1, 2026

Form 12.902(d), the UCCJEA Affidavit, is the sworn statement Florida requires in every divorce case involving a minor child, listing where each child has lived for the past five years so the court can confirm it has authority over custody and time-sharing. It is short compared to the parenting plan or the settlement agreement, and it asks about geography and other proceedings, not about your parenting terms, but a case with children cannot move forward without it.

What it is and why the court needs it

The UCCJEA Affidavit takes its name from the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, the law that decides which state's court has authority over a child's custody and time-sharing when a family has ties to more than one place. A Florida court cannot rule on where a child lives or who makes decisions for them until it has confirmed the child's home state, so every case naming a minor child starts with this affidavit before anything else about the child is decided.

The form itself is short next to the parenting plan or the settlement agreement, but it carries real weight. If the residence history it discloses shows another state has a stronger claim to jurisdiction, that can affect where the case is heard at all. In an amicable, uncontested Florida case this almost never changes the outcome, but the form exists so the court confirms that on the record rather than assumes it.

Who has to file it

The UCCJEA Affidavit is required in any divorce that involves parental responsibility, custody, or time-sharing for a minor child, even when both parents agree completely and nothing about the children is in dispute. It belongs to Amicably's Uncontested-with-Children package. If a spouse is pregnant at filing, Florida treats the case as a with-children case for this purpose even though the child is not yet born, so the affidavit is required from the start.

Only one parent needs to complete and sign the affidavit; it does not require both parents' signatures the way the parenting plan or the marital settlement agreement does. In practice, the party who signs is whichever spouse completes the paperwork first, usually the one filing the petition.

What the form asks for

The affidavit's questions are all about geography and other proceedings, not about parenting decisions or time-sharing terms. For each minor child, it asks for:

The form also includes a certificate of service, since a copy has to reach the other party, and a continuing duty to notify the court if any of this information changes while the case is open. That continuing duty is one reason the affidavit is filed early and kept accurate rather than treated as a one-time formality.

Filing, confidentiality, and notarization

Like the petition and the settlement agreement, the UCCJEA Affidavit must be signed under oath before a notary public or a deputy clerk; a plain signature is not enough. Florida law allows Remote Online Notarization for this document, which is why Amicably's guided video notarization session can take this signature along with the rest of a packet in one sitting.

Because the form discloses a child's date of birth and residence history, it has to be filed together with a Notice of Confidential Information Within Court Filing, a short companion document that flags the affidavit for the clerk so the sensitive details stay out of the public case file. Amicably prepares this notice alongside the affidavit rather than leaving it as a separate step to remember.

The completed affidavit is filed with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the petition was filed, and a copy goes to the other party, either with the initial papers or separately if it was not ready at the time of service.

From draft to final judgment

1. DraftThe filing parent answers a short set of questions about each child's addresses for the past five years and any other custody proceedings, and Amicably completes Form 12.902(d) from those answers.
2. ReviewA specialist checks the residence history for gaps and confirms whether the confidentiality notice and any corroborating detail are needed.
3. Sign and notarizeThe filing parent signs under oath in a guided video notarization session, along with the rest of the packet.
4. FileThe affidavit and its confidentiality notice go in with the parenting plan, the petition, and the rest of the packet through Florida's e-filing portal, with step-by-step guidance and confirmation once the court accepts it.
5. Ongoing dutyIf a child's residence or another custody case changes while the case is pending, the court must be notified; Amicably flags this for customers rather than leaving it unmentioned.

Why clerks send it back

• Missing notarization. A signature alone does not satisfy the jurat; it has to be sworn before a notary or deputy clerk.
• No confidentiality notice attached. Filing the affidavit alone, without its companion Notice of Confidential Information, is one of the more common reasons a clerk flags a filing for correction.
• Incomplete residence history. A gap in the five-year address history, or an address with no "who the child lived with" entry, reads as incomplete rather than simply short.
• Filed under the wrong package. Leaving the affidavit out of a case that involves a minor child, or including it in one that does not, both cause a hold on the file.
• No certificate of service. The other party has to receive a copy, and the form's own certificate of service block has to say so.

The UCCJEA Affidavit is small next to the parenting plan or the settlement agreement, but it is also one of the few forms a children's case cannot proceed without. Getting the residence history complete and the confidentiality notice attached the first time avoids a round trip with the clerk before the case can move toward a hearing.

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