Complaint for Divorce

The policy that the health, safety and welfare of children is the court's primary concern, and that children benefit from frequent and continuing contact with both parents where safe. Read with section 3011;

The court may order temporary spousal support during the proceeding. Counties apply a local guideline formula to TEMPORARY support even though permanent support has none; check the local rule before estimating.

California child support is a STATUTORY ALGEBRAIC FORMULA applied to the parties' net disposable incomes and the approximate percentage of time each parent has primary physical responsibility.

California's grounds are IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES causing an irremediable breakdown, or permanent legal incapacity to make decisions. There is no fault divorce; the word 'divorce' itself is DISSOLUTION here.

A party who contributed SEPARATE PROPERTY to the acquisition of community property is entitled to REIMBURSEMENT, without interest or appreciation, to the extent it is traced.

The order of preference for custody: to both parents jointly or to either parent, then to the person in whose home the child has been living, then to another suitable person.

Where a party has perpetrated domestic violence within the previous five years, there is a REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION that an award of sole or joint physical or legal custody to that person is detrimental to the child.

Annual gross income for the guideline formula is INCOME FROM WHATEVER SOURCE DERIVED, less the subdivision (c) exclusions. Employee and self-employment benefits count only in the court's discretion.

The factors for permanent spousal support, including earning capacity, the marketable skills of the supported party, contributions to the other's education, duration of the marriage, age and health, documented domestic…

For a marriage of LONG DURATION, presumptively TEN YEARS OR MORE, the court RETAINS JURISDICTION indefinitely over spousal support unless the parties agree otherwise.

Notice to a nonresident party and when the court may enter alimony and support orders against one. Personal jurisdiction over a nonresident spouse is the issue to resolve before pleading financial claims.

The court's authority over custody, care, education, visitation and support, decided on the BEST INTERESTS of the child, with the factors the section lists.

The court may make custody and support orders for children of parents who live separately without a dissolution action. The route for unmarried or separated parents.

Both parents' obligation to maintain a minor child according to their abilities, and the order for health insurance coverage. The section also addresses support for a child over 18 still in secondary school.

How a dissolution proceeding is commenced, served and filed, including waiver of service. Match the draft complaint's service plan to this section and the court's current practice.

The court may order a conveyance of title to real property and record the decree, and the section states its effect on title. Pair it with section 46b-81's power to pass title directly;

The Commission that issues and updates the guidelines. Confirm you are applying the current edition rather than a remembered one.

Support is determined by the CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES, with a rebuttable presumption that the guideline amount is correct and written findings required to deviate.

Connecticut's grounds. The one used in practice is IRRETRIEVABLE BREAKDOWN, which needs no waiting period of its own.

The Family Court's jurisdiction and the residence requirement, generally six months before the petition. Confirm the dates before promising a filing.

DELAWARE'S ONLY GROUND IS IRRETRIEVABLE BREAKDOWN with reconciliation improbable, shown by voluntary separation, separation caused by the respondent's misconduct or mental illness, or incompatibility.

What the petition must contain. Match the draft to the section and to the Family Court's current form requirements.

Alimony goes only to a DEPENDENT PARTY, in the amount and for the time the court deems just on the statutory factors.

Equitable division of MARITAL PROPERTY WITHOUT REGARD TO MARITAL MISCONDUCT, on the listed factors.

The decree, costs, notice of entry and the section's other effects. The procedural end of the case.

Modification on a real and substantial change of circumstances, and TERMINATION OF ALIMONY on the death of either party, the recipient's remarriage, or the recipient's COHABITATION, unless the agreement provides…

Who may consent to a minor's health care. Worth addressing in a parenting agreement so a caregiver is not turned away at a clinic.

The chapter's stated purpose and the direction that it be liberally construed to promote its underlying purposes, including mitigating the harm to spouses and children.

The divorce chapter's defined terms, including marital property and separation. Read 'separation' closely; Delaware's no-fault route turns on it and spouses under one roof can qualify.

After a judgment, decree or order granting custody, child support or alimony, the court retains jurisdiction to enter future orders modifying or terminating it, to the extent retention does not contravene other…

The District's official guideline calculator, run by the Child Support Services Division, which walks through each parent's ability to pay and the children's needs and is built on the D.C.

As amended by D.C. Law 25-115 and D.C. Law 25-311, subsection (a) grants a divorce on the assertion by one or both parties that they NO LONGER WISH TO REMAIN MARRIED, and (b) grants legal separation on at least one…

In the absence of a valid antenuptial or postnuptial agreement resolving all property issues, the court must assign to each party that party's separate property acquired before the marriage or by gift, bequest, devise…

The guideline applies presumptively in establishment and modification cases, unless combined adjusted gross income exceeds $240,000, and subsection (b) requires the judicial officer, in every action for divorce or…

The court may consider child support matters, as it deems appropriate, in any proceeding to determine the care and custody of a minor child.

In a child-custody proceeding each party must give, in its first pleading or an attached affidavit and under oath, the child's present address, the places the child lived during the last five years and the persons the…

Where a legal separation has been decreed, the court may afterwards decree an absolute divorce for any cause arising since the first decree and sufficient to entitle the complaining party to the second decree.

The best interest of the child is the primary consideration; the court must make a determination as to both legal custody and physical custody and may order sole legal, sole physical, joint legal, joint physical or…

This is the District's health-insurance and medical-support section: subsection (c-1) requires every support order to carry terms for each child's medical expenses whether or not insurance is available, (c-2) requires…

Section 61.13 governs child support and parenting plans. The 2026 comparison changes the history citation only; apply the operative requirements and exceptions to the actual facts.

Florida begins from a PREMISE THAT THE DISTRIBUTION SHOULD BE EQUAL, and unequal division must be justified on the statutory factors.

Support is set by the GUIDELINES SCHEDULE in this section, with a presumption that the guideline amount is correct and written findings required to vary by more than five per cent.

One party must have resided in Florida for SIX MONTHS before filing. Confirm the date before promising a filing; residence is proved by the means chapter 61 allows.

Florida's grounds are IRRETRIEVABLE BREAKDOWN or the mental incapacity of a party adjudged incapacitated for the statutory period. There is no fault divorce to plead.

Retirement, pension, profit-sharing, annuity and deferred compensation plans acquired during the marriage are marital assets subject to distribution.

RELOCATION of 50 MILES OR MORE for at least 60 days requires either a signed written agreement of the parties or a petition and court approval, with a detailed notice procedure and specific content requirements.

Modification and enforcement of support and alimony, including on a substantial change of circumstances and on the supportive-relationship ground the section provides. The route for both enforcement and change.

Payments generally run through the central depository, with the exceptions the section allows. Say in the agreement how payments will be made so the order matches.

FLORIDA ALIMONY IS A TYPED SYSTEM: temporary, BRIDGE-THE-GAP, rehabilitative and DURATIONAL. Permanent alimony was abolished in the 2023 reform.

The basic obligation comes from the schedule in subsection (e) and is divided between the parents in proportion to their adjusted actual incomes;

Since the October 2023 amendments the only grounds are six-month separation (the parties having lived separate and apart for six months without interruption before filing, and parties who have pursued separate lives…

In a child custody proceeding each party must give, in its first pleading or an attached affidavit and under oath, the child's present address, the places the child lived during the last five years and the persons the…

The Judiciary's Circuit Court complaint form, captioned to Family Law § 7-103, with the three current grounds, the residency allegation, the children and custody sections and the relief checkboxes.

Rule 9-207 requires the parties in a divorce or annulment where marital property is in dispute to file a joint statement listing each item of property, whether it is agreed to be marital under Family Law § 8-201, its…

The court determines the amount and the period of alimony, may award it from the filing of the pleading requesting it, and no further alimony accrues at the end of the period;

In a proceeding for alimony, alimony pendente lite, modification of alimony or enforcement of an alimony award, the court may order either party to pay the other's reasonable and necessary expense of prosecuting or…

The parents are the joint natural guardians of their minor child and are jointly and severally responsible for the child's support, care, nurture, welfare and education with the same powers and duties;

In an annulment or absolute divorce with a dispute over whether property is marital, the court decides which property is marital when it grants the divorce, or within 90 days after if it expressly reserved that power in…

The court's authority over custody, support and maintenance of children, including support past eighteen for a child principally dependent and enrolled in an educational programme, to the section's age limits.

Temporary custody and maintenance orders for minor children. Read with section 19 when seeking early relief.

The Probate and Family Court's authority to order support, custody and maintenance where a spouse fails to support the other or has deserted them, together with orders prohibiting restraint of personal liberty, without…

Temporary custody orders while the divorce is pending. The order that sets the shape of the case.

The domicile and residence requirements for a Massachusetts divorce, read with section 5's exceptions. Confirm domicile and how long the parties have lived here before promising a filing.

Official court page identifying CJD 101B for a spouse seeking divorce for irretrievable breakdown under section 1B.

Official Probate and Family Court guidance for a section 1B no-fault divorce. Step 2 distinguishes required initial filings (CJD 101B, marriage certificate or motion to file it late, R-408, conditional child disclosure…

For a minor child of divorced parents who is native to Massachusetts or has resided there five years, and over whose custody and maintenance a probate court has jurisdiction, removal requires the child's consent if of…

The custody definitions Massachusetts actually uses: SOLE LEGAL, SHARED LEGAL, SOLE PHYSICAL and SHARED PHYSICAL custody, with shared legal custody presumed at the temporary stage absent the findings the section…

Jurisdiction in an action for absolute divorce, divorce from bed and board, dissolution of a civil union or legal separation attaches when process is served as the Supreme Court rules prescribe and either party was a…

In making an equitable distribution the court must consider the duration of the marriage or civil union, the parties' age and physical and emotional health, the income or property each brought to the marriage, the…

Each party, in its first pleading or an attached affidavit, must state under oath the child's present address, every place the child has lived in the last five years and the persons the child lived with, and whether the…

In any proceeding involving custody of a minor child the rights of both parents are equal, and the court may order joint custody comprising legal or physical custody with residential arrangements and consultation…

The court must order every person filing for divorce, nullity or separate maintenance in which custody, visitation or support of a minor child is at issue to attend the Parents' Education Program, in separate sessions…

Divorce from the bond of matrimony may be adjudged for adultery, willful and continued desertion for 12 or more months, extreme cruelty, separation in different habitations for at least 18 consecutive months with no…

On or after granting a divorce or dissolution of a civil union, the court may allow either spouse or partner to resume any name used before the marriage or civil union, or to assume any surname.

Pending or after a matrimonial judgment the court may order alimony, maintenance and child support as the circumstances render fit, reasonable and just, require security including trusts for reasonably foreseeable…

Permanent and limited duration alimony terminates as of the date the recipient remarries or enters a new civil union, although arrearages accrued before that date are not vacated, and the recipient must promptly notify…

DRL 240 includes custody and the Child Support Standards Act. Subdivision (1-b)(h) prescribes nonwaivable advisement and presumptively-correct-obligation recitals for the covered agreements or stipulations presented for…

The official uncontested divorce packet, including the Summons with Notice and Verified Complaint (UD-1, UD-2), the Affidavit of Service, the Affirmation of Regularity, the Child Support Worksheet, the Notice of…

An action to annul, declare void or divorce may be maintained only on one of five alternative residence bases, including the parties having been married in New York or having resided in New York as husband and wife with…

Section 236 contains Parts A and B with distinct applicability. Part B covers automatic orders, agreements and equitable distribution;

A court may not enter a final judgment of annulment or divorce, or a judgment of separation, unless the parties have been given notice, in a separation agreement or stipulation or in a written instrument or on the…

In a child custody proceeding each party must give, in its first pleading or an attached affidavit and under oath, the child's present address, the places the child lived in the last five years and the persons the child…

The New York City child support agency's description of what it does: establishing parentage, establishing support and medical support orders, collecting and distributing payments, and modifying and enforcing orders.

Lists the seven grounds: cruel and inhuman treatment, abandonment for one or more years, imprisonment for three or more consecutive years, adultery, living apart pursuant to a decree of separation for six months, living…

Section 202.16 governs matrimonial practice in Supreme Court: the sworn Statement of Net Worth in the official form with the prior year's tax returns and a retainer statement, the required attachments to a request for…

OHIO DIVIDES MARITAL PROPERTY AND PRESUMES AN EQUAL DIVISION, with unequal division allowed only where equal would be inequitable and supported by written findings.

Ohio calls it SPOUSAL SUPPORT, not alimony, and there is NO FORMULA and no durational schedule: the court weighs the fourteen statutory factors including income, earning ability, ages, duration of the marriage and the…

Ohio child support is computed under the statutory worksheet and schedule, with a rebuttable presumption that the calculated amount is correct. The number comes from the current schedule and the parties' figures;

Each married person must support themselves, their spouse and their minor children out of their property or labour. The statutory duty behind an Ohio spousal and child support claim.

Ohio keeps FAULT GROUNDS and adds no-fault: bigamy, wilful absence for one year, adultery, extreme cruelty, fraudulent contract, gross neglect of duty, habitual drunkenness, imprisonment, an out-of-state divorce, and…

The division of the court of common pleas that hears domestic relations matters and the scope of its jurisdiction, including full equitable powers. Confirm the right division before filing.

The plaintiff must have been an Ohio resident for at least six months before filing, and the section sets county venue on top of that. Confirm both the residence period and the correct county before promising a filing.

The judgment dissolving the marriage, and the treatment of a SEPARATION AGREEMENT including provisions for children. Say expressly whether the agreement merges into the decree or survives it;

OHIO'S DISSOLUTION, which is a distinct proceeding from divorce: the spouses petition jointly with a complete separation agreement already signed, and both must appear.

What the joint petition for dissolution must contain, including the separation agreement covering property, support and parental rights. An incomplete agreement means the dissolution route is not available yet.

Equitable distribution WITHOUT REGARD TO MARITAL MISCONDUCT, on the listed factors: length of marriage, prior marriages, age and health and income and employability, contribution to the other's earning power,…

Pennsylvania's grounds. Fault grounds under (a) include desertion for a year, adultery, cruel and barbarous treatment, bigamy, imprisonment for two or more years and indignities.

The decree terminates property rights that depend on the marital relation, except vested rights, unless the decree says otherwise.

After the decree, each party may freely deal with their separate property unless the court ordered otherwise. Relevant to timing a sale or a refinance.

Divorced spouses who held by the entireties hold as tenants in common in equal half shares unless the court orders otherwise, and either may sue for sale and division.

Alimony ends at the payee's death, and at the payor's death unless an agreement or order says otherwise. If a client is relying on alimony, raise life insurance security in the agreement.

Support is set by the STATEWIDE GUIDELINE adopted by the Supreme Court by general rule, based on reasonable needs and the obligor's ability to pay, with a rebuttable presumption that the guideline amount is correct.

No support for an emancipated child, and the parents' marital status makes no difference to a child support order. Emancipation is fact-driven; do not assume turning 18 settles it.

The court may order a percentage of a spouse's reasonable and necessary health care expenses, and must order coverage where it is available at no cost or reasonable cost through employment.

Every child support order MUST include medical support where it is available at reasonable cost, and the section sets out the allocation of unreimbursed expenses and the National Medical Support Notice machinery.

SEPARATE PROPERTY is what a spouse owned before marriage, acquired during marriage by GIFT, DEVISE OR DESCENT, and personal injury recoveries other than lost earning capacity.

A party must have been a Texas domiciliary for the preceding SIX MONTHS and a resident of the county for the preceding NINETY DAYS. Confirm both before promising a filing.

The court divides the estate of the parties in a manner it deems JUST AND RIGHT. Texas is a COMMUNITY PROPERTY state: only community property is divisible, separate property may not be divided at all, and there is no…

The stated policy of assuring frequent and continuing contact with parents who act in the child's best interest. The framing the court applies to every conservatorship decision.

The factors for ordering joint managing conservatorship and the requirement to designate which conservator has the exclusive right to determine the child's PRIMARY RESIDENCE.

The STANDARD POSSESSION ORDER is presumed to be in the child's best interest and to provide reasonable minimum possession. Texas practice starts from this schedule; a parenting plan that departs from it needs a reason.

Community property is everything acquired by either spouse during marriage other than separate property. The definition that decides what is divisible at all.

All property possessed by either spouse at dissolution is PRESUMED COMMUNITY, and separate character must be proved by CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE. The burden is the practical battleground;

THE SIXTY-DAY WAITING PERIOD: the court may not grant a divorce until 60 days after the suit was filed, with narrow family-violence exceptions. Every Texas divorce timeline starts from this.

Pendente lite the circuit court may compel spousal maintenance and health coverage, order payment of joint debts, award money to enable a spouse to carry on the suit, provide for custody and maintenance of the children,…

On the request of either party at dissolution or divorce from the bond of matrimony, or on the filing of a certified foreign decree under subsection J, the court determines legal title, ownership, and value of all…

There is a rebuttable presumption that the § 20-108.2 guideline amount is correct, and rebutting it requires written findings in the order identifying the statutory deviation factors relied on.

Sets the rebuttable-presumption schedule of basic child support obligations by combined monthly gross income and number of children, plus the sole, split and shared custody formulas in subsection G, health care…

Protected identifying information (social security numbers, financial account numbers, birth dates) is removed from the complaint, petition, motion, order, decree or agreement and placed on this confidential addendum,…

In a proceeding under subsection L of § 16.1-241 or on entry of a decree of dissolution, a divorce from the bond of matrimony or from bed and board, a decree that neither party is entitled to a divorce, or separate…

In any child custody proceeding each party must give, in its first pleading or an attached affidavit and under oath, the child's present address, every place the child has lived in the past five years and the persons…

Every order directing child support, and every spousal support order where there are minor children, including orders confirming separation agreements, must carry a long list of mandatory notices: income withholding,…

Fault grounds are adultery occurring before the last separation, or sodomy or buggery committed outside the marriage;

Divorce, annulment and separate maintenance suits belong in the circuit court and are heard by the judge as equitable claims; there is no jury and no district-court divorce.