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 Utah, filing for divorce involves submitting the necessary documents to the district court in the county where one of the spouses resides. The initial paperwork typically includes a petition for divorce, which outlines the basic information about the marriage, the grounds for divorce (Utah allows for both fault and no-fault grounds), and any issues related to children, child custody, and financial support. There is also a filing fee that must be paid upon submission of the divorce paperwork. After filing, the petitioner must serve the other spouse with the divorce papers, which is known as 'service of process.' To file for divorce in Utah, at least one spouse must have been a resident of the county for at least three months immediately preceding the filing of the petition. If the couple has minor children, the residency requirement is extended to six months. These requirements ensure that the court has jurisdiction over the case. The specific statutes governing divorce in Utah can be found in the Utah Code, particularly in the sections dealing with domestic relations.