Filing for divorce generally includes (1) filing the necessary paperwork with the appropriate state or county court; (2) paying the filing fee; and (3) having the paperwork properly served on (handed to) your spouse—known as service of process.

This paperwork generally consists of a complaint or petition that includes the names of the spouses, the grounds for the divorce (fault or no-fault), whether there are children involved in the marriage, and whether the spouse is seeking child custody, child support, or spousal support.

A spouse generally may file for divorce in the state and county in which the spouse resides—or in which the other spouse resides. In many states the spouse must have lived in the state or county for a specified period of time before filing for divorce. Laws regarding this residency requirement and where a lawsuit for divorce may be filed vary from state to state and with circumstances in which the spouses share minor children.

Laws regarding the requirements for filing for divorce are usually located in a state’s statutes—often in the family code or domestic relations code.

In Arizona, filing for divorce, also known as dissolution of marriage, involves submitting the necessary paperwork to the appropriate county court where either spouse resides. The initial document is typically a petition for dissolution of marriage, which outlines the basic information about the marriage, the grounds for divorce (Arizona is a no-fault divorce state, meaning that no specific reason for the divorce other than irreconcilable differences is required), and any requests regarding child custody, child support, or spousal maintenance (alimony). The filing spouse must pay a filing fee, and the other spouse must be properly served with the divorce papers, which is known as service of process. To file for divorce in Arizona, at least one of the spouses must have been a resident of the state for a minimum of 90 days before filing the petition. The specific statutes governing divorce in Arizona can be found in Title 25 of the Arizona Revised Statutes, which covers family law and domestic relations.