Divorce residency requirements by state

If your spouse lives outside Alabama, you must have lived in Alabama for 6 months before you file. If you both live in Alabama, the law sets no minimum time.

You or your spouse must be an Alaska resident when you file, which generally means you are in Alaska and plan to stay. There is no minimum number of months.

You or your spouse must have lived (been domiciled) in Arizona, or been stationed there in the military, for 90 days before you file.

You or your spouse must have lived in Arkansas for at least 60 days before you file. You must prove residency (and your grounds) with your own testimony plus a witness, even if your spouse agrees.

You or your spouse must have lived in California for the last 6 months and in the county where you file for the last 3 months. If you don't qualify yet, you can file for legal separation and change it to a divorce later.

You or your spouse must have lived (been domiciled) in Colorado for 91 days before you file.

You can file as soon as either spouse lives in Connecticut. But the divorce can be granted only if (1) one of you has lived in Connecticut for 12 months before filing or before the decree, or (2) one of you lived in Connecticut when you married and moved back intending to stay, or (3) the marriage broke down after one of you moved to Connecticut.

You or your spouse must have lived in Delaware, or been stationed there in the military, for at least 6 months in a row right before you file.

You or your spouse must have lived in D.C. for at least 6 months before you file. It doesn't matter where you married.

You or your spouse must have lived in Florida for 6 months before you file. Residency is usually proven with a Florida driver's license, ID card, voter registration, or a witness.

Georgia
court self-help

You file in the family court of the circuit where you are domiciled (live with the intent to stay) when you file. Since a 2021 amendment, the statute sets no minimum length of time for divorce.

The person filing must have lived in Idaho for 6 full weeks before filing.

At least one spouse must have lived in Illinois for 90 days. You can file before the 90 days are up, but the judge can't grant the divorce until the 90th day.

You or your spouse must have lived in Indiana (or been stationed at a military base there) for 6 months, and in the county where you file for 3 months, right before filing.

If your spouse lives in Iowa and is personally served, there is no residency requirement. Otherwise, the person filing must have lived in Iowa for the last year.

You or your spouse must have lived in Kansas for 60 days right before filing. Military members stationed in Kansas for 60 days count.

You or your spouse must have lived in Kentucky (or been stationed there in the military) for 180 days before you file.

You or your spouse must be domiciled in Louisiana when you file. If you have lived in a parish for 6 months, the law presumes you are domiciled there (the presumption can be challenged).

You can file in Maine if any one of these is true: you have lived in Maine for 6 months or longer; you live in Maine and were married in Maine; you lived in Maine when the reason for the divorce arose; or your spouse lives in Maine.

You can file if you or your spouse lives in Maryland. If the ground for divorce happened outside Maryland, one of you must have lived in Maryland for at least 6 months before filing.

If the reason for the divorce happened in Massachusetts, you can file if you live there (unless you moved there just to get divorced). If it happened elsewhere, the person filing must have lived in Massachusetts for 1 year before filing, unless you lived there together as a married couple.

You or your spouse must have lived in Michigan for at least the last 180 days before filing, and in the county where you file for at least 10 days (with some exceptions).

You or your spouse must have lived in Minnesota (or been stationed there in the military) for 180 days before filing.

One of you must have been a real (bona fide) resident of Mississippi for 6 months before you file. A service member stationed in Mississippi and living here with their spouse counts as a resident if you were living here when you separated.

You or your spouse must have lived in Missouri (or been stationed there in the military) for 90 days right before filing.

One spouse must have lived (been domiciled) in Montana, or been stationed there in the military, for 90 days before you file.

One spouse must have lived in Nebraska, intending to make it home, for 1 year before filing. Exception: you married in Nebraska and one of you has lived there ever since.

One spouse must have lived in Nevada for at least 6 weeks before filing. A friend, family member or co-worker who sees the Nevada spouse often (the state self-help center says 3-4 times a week) signs an Affidavit of Resident Witness to prove it.

New Hampshire
court self-help

One spouse must have been a real (bona fide) New Jersey resident for the 1 year before you file. The only exception is a divorce based on adultery, where residency at the time of the adultery and since then is enough.

One spouse must have lived in New Mexico for at least 6 months right before filing and have a domicile (a real home they intend to keep) there.

One of these must be true: (1) you married in New York and one spouse has lived there for the 1 year before filing; (2) you lived in New York as a married couple and one spouse has lived there for the 1 year before filing; (3) the grounds happened in New York and one spouse has lived there for 1 year; (4) the grounds happened in New York and both of you live there when you file; or (5) one spouse has lived in New York for 2 years in a row before filing.

You or your spouse must live in North Carolina now and have lived there for at least 6 months before you file.

The spouse who files must have lived in North Dakota in good faith for 6 months before filing, or at least for the 6 months right before the judge grants the divorce.

The person filing for divorce must have lived in Ohio for at least 6 months right before filing (for a dissolution, either spouse). You usually file in a county where you or your spouse has lived for at least 90 days.

You or your spouse must have lived in Oklahoma in good faith for 6 months right before filing (living on a military base in Oklahoma for 6 months counts). File in the county where you have lived for the last 30 days, or where your spouse lives.

For a divorce based on irreconcilable differences, at least one spouse must live in (or be domiciled in) Oregon when you file and have lived there continuously for the 6 months before filing. (The shorter 'married in Oregon' rule in the statute applies only to annulment-type grounds.)

At least one spouse must have been a real (bona fide) Pennsylvania resident for at least 6 months right before filing.

The spouse filing must have been domiciled in and lived in Rhode Island for the 1 year before filing. If the filer hasn't, it's enough that the other spouse has lived there for 1 year and is actually served with the papers.

If both spouses live in South Carolina when you file, the filer needs only 3 months of residence. Otherwise the filer (or, if the filer lives elsewhere, the other spouse) must have lived in South Carolina for at least 1 year before filing.

The person filing must live in South Dakota (or be stationed there in the military) on the day the case is filed. There's no minimum length of time, and you don't have to keep living there until the decree.

Tennessee
court self-help

You or your spouse must have lived (been domiciled) in Texas for the 6 months before filing and in the county where you file for the 90 days before filing. If your spouse has lived in Texas 6 months, you can file in their county even if you live in another state.

You or your spouse must have lived in the Utah county where you file for at least 90 days before filing (or you are military stationed in Utah for 90 days, or both spouses consent to Utah jurisdiction).

You can file once either spouse has lived in Vermont for 6 months, but the divorce can't be granted unless one of you has lived there for 1 year before the final hearing. (Special rule: non-residents married in Vermont can sometimes file in the county where the marriage certificate was filed if their home state won't recognize the marriage.)

One spouse must have been a real (bona fide) resident and domiciliary of Virginia for at least 6 months before filing.

You can file in Washington if you live in Washington, or are in the military and stationed here, or are married to someone who lives in Washington or is stationed here. There is no minimum length of time.

If you married in West Virginia, one spouse just has to be a real resident when you file (no minimum time). If you married elsewhere, one spouse must have been a West Virginia resident for at least 1 year before filing.

At least one spouse must have lived in Wisconsin for at least 6 months and in the county where you file for at least 30 days right before filing. File in the county where you live now, not where you married.

One spouse must have lived in Wyoming for the 60 days right before filing, or you married in Wyoming and one of you has lived there ever since the wedding.