Filing For Divorce in Arkansas

1. What are the residency requirements for filing for divorce in Arkansas?  
You or your spouse must be a resident of the state for at least 60 days before you file for divorce and at least three months before your divorce is granted.  

2. Does Arkansas have a waiting period?       
The court will not grant you a divorce until at least 30 days after you have filed.  

3. Does the state have grounds for divorce?  
Yes, Arkansas does have grounds for divorce. These include:

• Your spouse was impotent at the time that you were married and continues to be so.
• Your spouse has been convicted of a felony.
• Your spouse has been habitually drunk for at least a year.
• Your spouse has treated you so cruelly that your life may be in danger.
• Your spouse has made your living situation intolerable.
• Your spouse has committed adultery (This is no longer grounds if the court finds that one of you committed adultery strictly to get a divorce or that both of you have committed adultery.)  

If you and your spouse have lived separately for at least 18 months, the court will grant a divorce without needing to find fault.  

If your spouse has been found by physicians to be incurably insane and has lived in an institution for at least three years, the court will grant you a divorce but require you to provide for the care of your spouse.  

4. How does Arkansas determine the division of property?    
You and your spouse are encouraged to come up with a settlement on your own and present it to the court. If you can’t agree, the court will divide your property for you. The court will divide all marital property in half unless it decides that division is unfair. If the court determines a different division of property is necessary, it will consider:

• How long you and your spouse were married.
• You and your spouse’s ages, health and lifestyle.
• You and your spouse’s occupations.
• You and your spouse’s incomes and sources of income.
• You and your spouse’s skills.
• You and your spouse’s employability.
• You and your spouse’s assets, debts and needs and your opportunities to earn future assets and income.
• What contribution each of you made toward the acquisition or increase in value of your marital property (including whether one of you was a homemaker)
• the tax consequences for each of you after your property is divided.  

The court may order you to sell any marital property that can’t be divided and would result in a lopsided distribution. The proceeds of the sale will then be divided as necessary.  

Any property that is not marital property will be returned to the person who owned it before you were married — unless the court decides otherwise, of course.  

Arkansas considers marital property to be any property you and your spouse acquired after you were married except:

• Gifts and inheritances or any deferred compensation plan.
• Property you or your spouse received in exchange for property you had before you were married or in exchange for property you were given by gift or inheritance.
• Any property you and your spouse have agreed will be excluded from consideration.
• Any increase in value of any property that you or your spouse acquired before you were married or that you received by gift or inheritance.
• Workman’s comp or personal injury benefits if they were awarded for some type of permanent disability or future medical expenses.
• Any income generated by property that you or your spouse owned before you were married or that you received by gift or inheritance.