Written by NotALawyer Legal AI · Reviewed by External Legal AI · Published May 11, 2026 · Last reviewed June 26, 2026
How divorce, custody, child support, and alimony actually work in every state.
You don't have to prove your spouse did anything wrong. Every state allows no-fault divorce, so you can file simply because the marriage has broken down — the exact label varies (states use phrases like "irretrievable breakdown" or "incompatibility"), but the idea is the same: no blame required. Fault grounds such as adultery, cruelty, or a felony conviction still exist in many states, but they rarely change the property or custody result, so few people use them. The ground your state uses appears when you select it above.
Before you file, the filing spouse usually has to have lived in the state — and sometimes the specific county — for a set period. That waiting period varies widely from state to state, from a few weeks to several months, and some states add a separate county-residency clock on top of it. Meet the time requirement before you file, or the court can throw the case out. Your state's exact residency rule shows in the panel above, and the full 50-state breakdown is in the comparison table on this page.
States fall into one of two systems, and which one applies to you depends on where you divorce. In community-property states, almost anything either spouse earned or acquired during the marriage — wages, retirement contributions, real estate, debts — is owned jointly and is presumed split equally. In equitable-distribution states, that same marital property is divided in whatever proportion the court considers fair, which is often but not always close to 50/50. In both systems, property owned before the marriage, plus inheritances and gifts received during it, is generally separate property and stays with the spouse who brought it in. Whether your state is community or equitable is shown in the panel above.
Even where an equal split is the starting point, that presumption can move. Courts can land on an uneven division based on factors like fault, each spouse's earning capacity, and who has primary custody of the children — and the weight given to those factors differs from one state to the next. The specifics for your state appear when you select it above, with every state laid out side by side in the comparison table on this page.
Custody splits into two parts. Legal custody is the right to make major decisions about education, healthcare, and religion (some states use other terms, such as "conservatorship," for the same idea). Physical custody is where the child lives. Each can be sole or joint, and they don't have to match — joint legal custody with one parent holding primary physical custody is among the most common setups.
Every state decides custody on the "best interest of the child." The law spells out the factors courts weigh: each parent's relationship with the child, the child's adjustment to home and school, everyone's mental and physical health, any history of domestic violence or substance abuse, and, in most states, the child's own preference once they're old enough. The age at which a child's preference starts to carry weight varies by state, and even then the court still makes its own independent best-interest finding rather than simply following the child's wishes.
Every state runs child support through a formula, but the formulas themselves differ. Some states base the amount on a percentage of the paying parent's income, rising with the number of children and applied up to a capped amount of income. Others use an "income-shares" model that combines both parents' incomes to estimate what the household would have spent on the children, then divides that obligation between the parents. Most states also cap or adjust the calculation at high income levels and revisit the underlying numbers periodically. How your state runs the math is summarized in the comparison table on this page.
Courts can depart from the formula for documented reasons — extraordinary medical costs, special-needs children, very high incomes, or shared physical custody. Either parent can ask for a modification after a substantial change in circumstances, often a 15–20% shift in the calculated amount or a job loss.
Alimony rules vary the most of anything in a divorce. Some states are strict — limiting support to longer marriages, capping the monthly amount, and putting a hard ceiling on how many years it can last — while others give judges broad discretion with few fixed limits. Whether you can expect support at all, and roughly how much and for how long, can turn entirely on which state you're in.
Where courts do have discretion, they generally weigh the length of the marriage, each spouse's earning capacity, contributions made to the other spouse's career, and the standard of living during the marriage. States also differ in the types of support they recognize — for example rehabilitative, transitional, modifiable, or non-modifiable awards. The rules that govern your case appear when you select your state above, and the table lays out how each state approaches it.
Every state has a fast-track protective-order process for family-violence victims. It usually starts with an ex parte temporary order — issued the same day, without the other party present, when the petition shows immediate danger. A full hearing follows, typically within a couple of weeks, where both sides present evidence and the judge decides on a longer-term order.
A protective order can do more than keep the other party away. It can grant temporary custody, set a visitation schedule, order child or spousal support, remove the abuser from the home, and require firearm surrender. Violating one is a separate criminal offense in every state.
An uncontested divorce — both spouses agree on property, support, and custody — often costs a fraction of a contested case. Many couples use mediation to close the gaps before filing. Court-connected mediation is available in every state, and it's mandatory before contested custody trials in many counties.
Contested divorces — especially those with custody fights, business valuations, or hidden assets — typically take a year or more and can run into tens of thousands in lawyer fees, expert witnesses, and discovery costs. Pinning down where you actually disagree (and where you don't) before you walk into a lawyer's office narrows the scope and the bill.
How long at least one spouse must have lived in the state before filing for divorce, in every state. Some states also add a separate county requirement. Each figure is cited to the state's divorce statute.
General information, not legal advice. Counties, military service, and where the marriage occurred can change the rule — confirm with the cited statute for your state.
More on this topic: the Family hub
These guides are general information about the law, not legal advice for your specific situation. Talk to a licensed lawyer in your state before making decisions that affect your rights.