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 Tennessee, to file for divorce, at least one of the spouses must have been a resident of the state for a minimum of six months prior to filing. The divorce should be filed in the county where the couple last lived together, where the defendant spouse resides if they are a resident of Tennessee, or in the county where the filing spouse resides if the defendant is not a Tennessee resident. When minor children are involved, additional considerations may apply, such as the requirement that the children must have lived in the state for at least six months (or since birth if younger than six months) for the Tennessee courts to have jurisdiction over child custody matters. These residency requirements are designed to ensure that the court has proper jurisdiction over the divorce case. The specific statutes governing these requirements can be found in the Tennessee Code, particularly within the sections pertaining to domestic relations.