Requirements for a Tennessee Divorce

Residency

A spouse can file for divorce at any time if the grounds for divorce occurred in Tennessee. If they did not and a spouse is a new resident of the state, she must wait six months before filing, according to Section 36-4-105 of the Tennessee Code. When the state's residency requirement is met, a spouse can file a Petition for Divorce in the Circuit Court in his county of residence.

A divorce petition must include the grounds for divorce. No-fault divorce is available in Tennessee, as set forth in 36-4-101. A spouse can seek a no-fault divorce based on irreconcilable differences if there is no chance of reconciliation and the other spouse consents to the divorce. A petition for no-fault divorce can also be filed if the spouses do not have any minor children and they have not lived together for at least the previous two years.

A spouse can also file for a divorce based on fault grounds. Grounds for a fault divorce are in 36-4-103 of the Tennessee Code. They include adultery, abandonment, bigamy, cruel and inhuman treatment, addiction to drugs and/or alcohol, impotence and conviction of a felony.

Tennessee courts use equitable distribution guidelines to divide property, so each spouse will receive a fair, though not necessarily equal, percentage of the assets. Each spouse will retain his separate property, which is anything acquired before the marriage, any inheritance received by one spouse during the marriage and any property received in exchange for other separate property. The court will divide all other property acquired during the marriage between the spouses. Section 36-4-121 of the state's code sets forth the factors a court must consider, including duration of the marriage, each spouse's age and health conditions that may prevent employment, each spouse's income, the value of each spouse's separate property and each spouse's role in acquiring the marital property.

When spouses have minor children, the court will decide custody based on factors regarding the best interests of the child. Parents have equal rights to custody, regardless of gender. Under 36-4-106, the court will consider each parent's past and current roles in raising the child, each parent's ability to handle the parenting duties individually, any history of domestic violence, the child's relationship with each parent and the child's preference, if the child is 12 or older.

The noncustodial parent will be required to pay child support to continue providing for the child financially. The child support amount is set according to the owing parent's income, the amount of time the child is in the owing parent's care and how many children the parent will be supporting. Once ordered, child support is owed until the child is 18 years old.