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 Colorado, filing for divorce, legally known as dissolution of marriage, involves submitting the necessary paperwork to the district court in the county 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 (Colorado is a no-fault state, so the only ground is the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage), and any requests regarding child custody, child support, or spousal maintenance (alimony). At least one spouse must have lived in Colorado for 91 days before filing for divorce. If there are children involved, the children must have resided in Colorado for at least 182 days. A filing fee is required, and the paperwork must be properly served to the other spouse, which is known as service of process. The specific procedures and forms may vary slightly by county, but the overall process is governed by Colorado state statutes, particularly in the Colorado Revised Statutes Title 14 (Domestic Matters).