Guides
Divorce, custody, support, property division, and marital agreements under state family-law systems.
Family law is state law. The grounds for divorce, how property divides, how custody schedules are set, and how support is calculated all depend on the statute book of the state where the case is filed — sometimes on the county courthouse's local rules. A confident answer that ignores jurisdiction is usually a wrong answer.
These guides explain the frameworks that most states share — no-fault divorce, the best-interests standard, guideline child support — and flag where the differences are big enough to change strategy, with links to official state self-help resources rather than one-size-fits-all claims.
There is no federal divorce law — each state sets its own residency rules, grounds, waiting periods, and procedures. This roadmap explains the common stages of a U.S. divorce and where state rules diverge most.
Begin with the state-law roadmap to understand residency requirements, grounds, and the overall sequence of a case. Then read the property and custody guides that match the issues in your situation.
Whether a divorce is contested or uncontested matters more to its cost and timeline than almost any other fact. Here is how the two tracks differ, what drives expense, and the middle paths between them.
Every U.S. state decides custody under a best-interests-of-the-child standard, but the factors courts weigh are set state by state. Here is what judges commonly consider and how orders are modified.
Every state must set child support by numeric guidelines, but the formulas differ: most use income shares, a few use percentage-of-income, and three use the Melson formula. Here is how amounts are set and changed.
Nine states divide marital property under community property rules; the rest use equitable distribution. Which system applies — and how separate property is traced — often matters more than who holds title.
Prenups and postnups are enforceable contracts in every state — if executed correctly. Voluntariness, full financial disclosure, and fairness review are where they fail, and the rules vary sharply by state.
A legal separation decree can divide finances and set a parenting schedule while leaving the marriage intact. Compare the two statuses, the reasons couples pick one, and the states where separation is not offered.
Annulment is far narrower than most people expect: it requires a legal defect in the marriage itself, not a short or unhappy one. Here are the grounds, the void-versus-voidable line, and what a decree actually undoes.
Mediation and collaborative practice resolve most divorces without a trial, but they work differently and suit different couples. Here is who decides what, how confidentiality works, and where each fits poorly.
Courts do not revisit custody simply because a parent is unhappy with the current schedule. Most states require a substantial change in circumstances since the last order, plus proof that a change serves the child.
Unpaid support is collected through two parallel systems — the state child support agency and the family court. Here is how income withholding works, what the enforcement toolkit contains, and what contempt requires.
Legal parentage arises from a marital presumption, a signed acknowledgment, or a court order — and each route carries its own deadlines. Undoing an established finding is far harder than most people expect.
Living together for years creates almost no legal rights in most states. A cohabitation agreement, paired with estate documents, is how unmarried couples build the protections marriage supplies automatically.
A divorce decree alone does not move retirement money. Employer plans need a qualified domestic relations order; IRAs are split by transfer incident to divorce; and government plans follow their own rules entirely.