I Need a Divorce and I Do Not Have Minor Children

Yes. You can get divorced in Michigan if:

• Your marriage is valid in the place where you were married; and
• You or your spouse has lived in Michigan for at least six months.

Yes. Separate maintenance is like divorce, but you stay married at the end of the case. The court will still divide your property and make custody, parenting time, and child support orders. You might decide to file for separate maintenance because of your religion or if you want to stay married for other reasons. But, if you file a separate maintenance case and your spouse files a counterclaim for divorce, the court must treat the case as a divorce.

To learn more, read Alternatives to Divorce: Separate Maintenance and Annulment.

A Michigan court can grant you a divorce if you have a valid common-law marriage. Michigan has not allowed common-law marriage since January 1, 1957. Michigan only recognizes common-law marriages that:

• Were entered into before January 1, 1957; and
• Were entered in a state that recognizes common law marriage

If you think you have a common-law marriage and want a divorce, consider talking to a lawyer. If you need a lawyer and are low-income, you may qualify for free legal help. You can use the “Find a Lawyer” section on this page to look for legal help in your area.

Representing yourself in a divorce case is not easy. Consider talking with a lawyer about your rights and options even if you decide not to hire one.

The more complicated the issues in your divorce are, the more important it may be to have a lawyer. Consider talking to a lawyer if:

• You own real estate;
• You have a pension or retirement account;
• You have children that were born while you were married, but one spouse is not the parent;
• You need spousal support (alimony);
• Your spouse has been emotionally, verbally or physically abusive;
• You and your spouse disagree on one or more major issues in your divorce.

Use the Guide to Legal Help to find a lawyer or legal services in your area.

No. You don’t have to be separated or living apart to get a divorce.

If you and your spouse have minor children together, there is a $255 fee for filing your case. If you do not have minor children, the filing fee is $175. There may also be other costs such as:

• Fees for having papers served on your spouse
• Motion filing fees
• Fees for mediation or similar services

You can ask the court to waive your fees if you get public assistance or are low-income. You can use our Do-It-Yourself Fee Waiver to do this. To learn more about waiving fees and costs, read Fee Waivers in Court Cases.

You must serve your spouse with the divorce papers to give your spouse legal notice that you filed for divorce. If you can’t find your spouse, you must get a court order for alternate service. Alternate service allows you to serve the divorce papers by publication in a newspaper or another way.

To get an order for alternate service, you must file a Motion and Verification for Alternate Service. In the motion, you must include everything you did to try to find your spouse. Also, the process server must list what efforts were made to serve your spouse. If the judge agrees you did everything you could to try to find your spouse, he or she will probably grant your motion.

You must notify the court that your spouse is in prison. In your complaint, you must state the following:

• That your spouse is incarcerated
• Your spouse's prison number
• Your spouse's location
• That a telephonic or video hearing is required by Michigan Court Rule 2.004.

You must also notify your spouse about the divorce case even if they are in prison. Having papers served on an inmate is usually not hard. Call the Department of Corrections to confirm the incarceration and the other party's prison number and location. Then mail a copy of the complaint and other papers you filed to the prison. Also include the proof of service so the server can fill it out and send it back to you. Mail the papers by registered or certified mail, with service restricted to your spouse and a return receipt requested. 

A prison employee can serve the papers and send you back the completed proof of service form along with the return receipt (this looks like a green card). Most Michigan prisons have a litigation coordinator to help with this process. You can also use the Personal Service on Prisoner and Affidavit form to ask the Warden or Administrator of the prison to serve the papers.

When you receive the completed proof of service from the prison, attach the return receipt before filing it with the court clerk's office.

The court must allow your spouse to participate in your divorce case by phone, video conference, or in person.

It depends. There is a 60 day waiting period if:

• There were no children born during your marriage; and
• You aren’t expecting a child

There is a 180 day waiting period if:

• there were children born during your marriage; or
• you are expecting a child

The waiting period starts when you file for divorce. The court will require you to wait until the end of the waiting period to enter your judgment of divorce. In a divorce with children, the judge can waive part of the waiting period if your case involves unusual hardship or a compelling need to shorten the waiting period. The judge cannot make the total waiting period less than 60 days.

The waiting period is the minimum time your divorce will take. If you and your spouse disagree about major issues, it can take much longer than the waiting period to get divorced.

Yes. You and your spouse can work out your own settlement. However, the court won’t approve your property and debt division unless it is fair to both of you. The custody, parenting time, and child support terms must also be in your children’s best interests. For more information on how the court views the best interests of children, read the article, The “Best Interests of the Child Factors”.

Arbitration is an alternative to trial when the parties can’t reach an agreement on their divorce issues. Arbitration is different from mediation because the arbitrator’s decisions are binding. The arbitrator will make decisions and issue orders that are enforceable, just as a court would.

You can’t be ordered to participate in arbitration. The court will only send your case to arbitration if you and your spouse agree to it on the record.

It is not against any law to date during your divorce. But, dating could affect some of the issues in your divorce, like custody and parenting time. The judge in your case could also order you and your spouse not to have someone you are dating around your children during your divorce.

If you are a woman who took her husband’s last name, you have the choice of keeping your married name or changing it. Your Judgment of Divorce can restore your maiden name or the last name you used before your marriage. Or, the judge can allow you to take a different last name. However, you must not be asking for the name change to commit fraud or for another bad purpose. For example, you can’t change your name to avoid a creditor or hide a criminal record.

The law in Michigan doesn’t work the same way for men. Men aren’t able to change their name automatically when they divorce. Instead, they must go through the process of petitioning the court for a name change. To learn more, see the Name Change toolkit.

Separate property is property that does not get included in your property division. Separate property includes property that:

• One spouse owned before the marriage
• One spouse received as an inheritance or gift

Separate property is normally kept by the owner. But, the court can include separate property in your divorce if:

• The marital property is not enough to support the non-owner spouse and children; or
• The non-owner spouse somehow contributed to the value of the property.

Your marital home will be part of the property settlement in your divorce. The decision about ownership of the home will not determined by who moves out; instead, it will be made when all of the marital property and debts are divided.

Even if you and your spouse agree that you can stay in your marital home, your spouse will probably want to be paid for his or her share of the home. If you do stay in your marital home, you will have to figure out how to continue to pay your mortgage after your divorce. Usually when you are awarded property in a divorce, you also become responsible for the debt related to the property.

Sometimes the marital home must be sold because the parties need different places to live and the marital home is too expensive for one person.

Pension and retirement plans are marital property. This means the court will decide how to divide them in your Judgment of Divorce. The judge may give you part of your spouse’s retirement benefits as part of the property division in your divorce. If you have a retirement plan or pension, the court may also give part to your spouse.

Yes, you can file for divorce if you are pregnant or your spouse is pregnant. You must tell the judge about the pregnancy in your divorce complaint. The judge may require you to wait for your divorce to become final until after the birth. A judge might do this to make sure the custody, parenting time, and child support arrangements in the Judgment of Divorce are complete.

The Friend of the Court (FOC) is part of the family division of the circuit court. The FOC helps the court in cases involving custody, parenting time, and child support. Some of the duties the FOC performs are:

• Investigating and issuing recommendations about custody, parenting time, and child support
• Helping the parties settle disputes during and after their case
• Providing enforcement services on existing custody, parenting time, and support orders

In addition, some FOC offices (but not all) investigate and issue recommendations about spousal support.

To learn more, read Friend of the Court Overview.

Yes. To get your court fees waived, you must file a Waiver/Suspension of Fees and Costs. This form tells the court that you can't afford to pay the fees in your case, and it asks for a waiver. You can use our Do-It-Yourself Fee Waiver to complete the affidavit.

The affidavit must be signed by the person who needs the waiver. If you are under 18 or can’t sign because of a disability, someone who has personal knowledge of the facts can sign. The affidavit must be signed in front of a notary public or a court clerk. You will need photo identification to show that you are the person signing. You may have to pay a fee for a notary.

If you get public assistance, your fees will be waived. In all other cases, a judge will review your request and decide whether to waive your fees. You may have to wait for the review and decision, so plan ahead. You can’t file your court papers until the judge grants a waiver or you pay the fee.

It could. Michigan is a “no fault” divorce state, which means you don’t have to prove your spouse did something wrong to get a divorce. But the judge can consider fault to decide how to divide your property and debt.

Mediation can be helpful when the parties have equal power. Both parties must be able to say what they want, without being afraid or pressured.

Threats and control are common in relationships where one person is abusive. If the abuser is used to being in charge and making all the decisions, mediation probably won’t work well.

Mediation may be even more of a problem if the other party abused you and you don’t have a lawyer. If you need a lawyer and are low-income, you may qualify for free legal help. You can use the “Find a Lawyer” section on this page to look for legal help in your area.

You can use a quitclaim deed or a warranty deed to transfer your property. Unlike warranty deeds, quitclaim deeds do not make any guarantees about the property title. With a quitclaim deed, the person selling or giving up the property is not responsible for any title defects.

It is common to use a quitclaim deed to transfer property after a divorce because people who have been married are likely to know about the property they are getting and if there is clear title. If you have concerns about title, you may want to consider using a warranty deed instead and doing a title search.

To learn more about the difference between quitclaim deeds and warranty deeds, read the article Quitclaim Deeds and Divorce.

It is possible for a Judgment of Divorce to transfer the property. After a divorce, ex-spouses usually use a deed to transfer property so that the Judgment of Divorce is not part of the property records that anyone can search. But, if your ex-spouse does not complete his or her part of the quitclaim deed, you can transfer the property by recording your Judgment of Divorce at the Register of Deeds.

No. The judge will not change the names on a deed for you. You have to prepare and complete a quitclaim deed and record it with the Register of Deeds.

If you are the person transferring your property to your ex-spouse, you must sign the quitclaim deed in front of a notary. Then, you must give the deed to your ex-spouse. Your ex-spouse must sign the deed. Then, your ex-spouse must take the deed to be recorded at the Register of Deeds.

If you or your ex-spouse prepared a quitclaim deed using the Do-It-Yourself Quitclaim Deed (after Divorce), detailed instructions will print out with the deed.

When your child is born, you can file a Motion or Complaint to Determine Child Born Out of Wedlock. To ask the judge to revoke (undo) your husband’s status as legal father, either you, your husband, or the biological father must file this motion or complaint. Otherwise, your husband will be your child’s legal father, and the biological father will not have any parental rights or responsibilities.

You can use the Do-It-Yourself Revoke Paternity Established by Marriage to prepare the forms you need to ask the judge to revoke your husband's paternity.