Filing Extension
Filing Extension (judicial candidates)
Notice of Automatic Tax Extension
22 NYCRR §40.1(i)(3) and §40.2(a)(ii)(a)
22 NYCRR §7400.2
22 NYCRR §100.5(A)(4)(g)
22 NYCRR §7400.7

If you are filing pursuant to 22 NYCRR Part 40, you may request an extension of time to file your financial disclosure statement on the grounds of justifiable cause or undue hardship. You must file such request with the Commission on or before May 15, 2008. You will receive a written decision regarding your request from the Commission.

If you have applied for an automatic extension of time to file your individual income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service, and you do not have the information necessary to respond to one or more questions on the financial disclosure statement, you must file your financial disclosure statement, without the relevant information, on or before May 15, 2008 together with a Notice of Automatic Extension . You must file the missing information in a supplementary statement of financial disclosure within 7 days after your IRS extension expires.

If you are a judicial candidate filing pursuant to 22 NYCRR Part 100, you may request an extension of time to file your financial disclosure statement on the grounds of justifiable cause or undue hardship. You must file such request with the Commission on or before twenty days after you become a candidate. No extension shall be granted beyond thirty-five days after you become a candidate. You will receive a written decision regarding your request from the Commission.

Individual Filing Exemption Request
Job Title Filing Exemption Request
22 NYCRR §40.1(i)(8)
22 NYCRR §7400.1

An employee required to file a financial disclosure statement, who has not been determined to be a policy-maker for the purpose of financial disclosure, may request an exemption from filing on the grounds that the public interest does not require disclosure and that the employee's duties do not involve any of the duties set forth in Section 40.1(i)(8) of the Rules of the Chief Judge. Employee organizations may request filing exemptions on behalf of all employees who share the same job title. A request for an exemption from filing a financial disclosure statement must be filed with the Commission on or before March 1, 2008.

If you are required to file because it has been determined that, for the purpose of financial disclosure, you held a policy-making position, the Commission does not have the authority to exempt you from filing and therefore will not consider such an exemption request. The determination of policy-maker status is not made by the Commission, but by the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, the Presiding Justice of each Appellate Division, and the Chief Administrator of the Courts.

In applying the public interest standard, the Commission considers the duties you may be called upon to perform. The Commission weighs the strong public interest in disclosure against your privacy rights. In this weighing process, the Commission considers your role in the judicial, administrative or managerial process of the Unified Court System. The Commission also considers the potential for conflict of interest and use of public office for personal gain in the performance of your actual or potential job duties.

Judiciary Law § 211 (4) and 22 NYCRR Part 40 establish a strong public policy favoring disclosure. Thus applicants otherwise required to file, who have requested an exemption from filing, must demonstrate that an individual exception to this policy is warranted.

Statement of Separation
22 NYCRR §7400.3

You must report all information regarding your spouse on your 2007 annual statement of financial disclosure if you were married at any time during calendar year 2007. If you were separated from your spouse throughout all of calendar year 2007, you do not have to report any information pertaining to your spouse other than his or her name. You must, however, file a statement of separation with your disclosure form. If you lived with your spouse for any part of calendar year 2007, you must report the required information pertaining to him or her, or request an exemption from reporting one or more items of information that pertain to your spouse. See below.

"Family" Exemption Request
22 NYCRR §40.1(i)(7)
22 NYCRR §7400.3

An employee required to file a financial disclosure statement may request an exemption from reporting one or more items of information that pertain to his or her spouse or unemancipated children on the grounds that the information will have no material bearing on the discharge of the employee's official duties. You must provide all information requested in the exemption application, including the information you are seeking to have exempted. A request for an exemption from disclosing certain information pertaining to your spouse or unemancipated child(ren) must be filed with the Commission on or before April 1, 2008.

If you request a spousal exemption on the grounds that you have no knowledge of your spouse's assets, and that your spouse refused to supply this information to you, you must so state specifically in the form of an affidavit. You must, at a minimum, convince the Commission that your spouse refuses to provide the information, that you have no other source regarding this information, and that you have made a bona fide attempt to obtain, and cannot obtain, the information. Other potentially relevant, but not necessarily controlling, matters include the circumstances of, and reasons for, your spouse's refusal to provide you with the relevant information, the duration and consistency over time of your spouse's refusal to disclose such information to you, and whether you and your spouse file or have filed joint federal, state or local tax returns. If you and your spouse have filed a joint tax return, you must at a minimum report such information as is available from that return.

Deletion Request
22 NYCRR §40.1(i)(6)
22 NYCRR §7400.4
22 NYCRR §100.5(A)(4)(g)
22 NYCRR §7400.7

An employee or judicial candidate required to file a financial disclosure statement may request the deletion of one or more items of information from the copy of his or her financial disclosure statement made available for public inspection on the grounds that the information will have no material bearing on the discharge of the employee's official duties. If you are filing pursuant to 22 NYCRR Part 40, a request that certain information reported on the financial disclosure statement be deleted from public inspection must be filed on or before May 15, 2008, unless a filing extension has been granted. If you are a judicial candidate filing pursuant to 22 NYCRR Part 100, your request must be filed with your financial disclosure statement. A deletion request will not be considered unless it is filed with a complete financial disclosure statement including the information you seek to have deleted from public inspection.

In applying the material bearing standard to decide exemption and deletion requests, the Commission weighs competing public and private interests including the following:

1. whether the information is of a personal or particularly intimate nature;
   
2. whether the disclosure of the information could pose a safety threat to you or your family, and the nature of that threat, including its seriousness and imminence;
   
3. whether the information may relate in a substantial and important way to your official duties;
   
4. whether the information could reveal or relate to an actual or potential conflict of interest;
   
5. your role in the judicial, administrative or managerial process of the Unified Court System;
   
6. whether the standard is being applied in the case of a spousal/child exemption request or a deletion request. Your burden is far greater when seeking an exemption request. The granting of an exemption request means that the relevant information will not be reported at all on the financial disclosure statement, while the granting of a deletion request means that the information will be reported on the financial disclosure statement, but deleted from the copy of the statement made available to the public, and
   
7. such other factors as may be relevant.