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 Iowa, filing for divorce involves submitting the necessary documents to the appropriate district court and paying the required filing fee. The initial document is typically a petition for the dissolution of marriage, which should include information such as the names of both spouses, the grounds for divorce (Iowa allows no-fault divorce based on the breakdown of the marriage), details about children from the marriage, and any requests for child custody, child support, or alimony. One of the spouses must serve the other spouse with these papers, which is known as 'service of process.' To file for divorce in Iowa, at least one spouse must have been a resident of the state for a minimum of one year prior to filing. The divorce can be filed in the county where either spouse resides. The specific statutes governing divorce in Iowa can be found in the Iowa Code, particularly in the sections pertaining to domestic relations.