Filing for Divorce in Pennsylvania

1. What are the residency requirements for filing for divorce in Pennsylvania?  
You or your spouse must have been a resident for at least six months before filing. You may file in the county in which your spouse resides or, if he or she lives out of state, where you reside.  

2. Does Pennsylvania have a waiting period?       
If the court thinks there is reason to believe you and your spouse might reconcile, it will continue your case for between 90 and 120 days and require you to attend counseling. If you haven’t reconciled at the end of that period and one of you says under oath that your marriage is irretrievably broken, the court will rule on whether it is or isn’t.  

If you file based on the ground of irreconcilable differences and the court orders a continuation period, but you or your spouse requests counseling or you have at least one child younger than 16, then the court may order as many as three counseling sessions within that time period.  

If you file based on the ground that your spouse has forced you to endure indignities so significant that your life is intolerable, but you or your spouse requests counseling, the court will require as many as three counseling sessions.  

If you file based on the ground of mutual consent for a divorce, but you or your spouse requests counseling, the court will require as many as three counseling sessions within 90 days of filing.  

3. Does the state have grounds for divorce?  
Yes. In Pennsylvania you may file for a divorce on the grounds of:

• Committed willful and malicious desertion, which means your spouse has left you and your home without a good reason and has been gone for at least one year.
• Adultery, which means your spouse had an affair.
• Cruel and barbarous treatment, which means your spouse has endangered your life or your health.
• Bigamy, which means your spouse married you while he or she was still married to someone else.
• Imprisonment, if your spouse has been sentenced to two or more years.
• Indignities so great that they’ve made your life intolerable.
• Institutionalization, if your spouse has been confined to a mental institution for at least 18 months and there is no reason to believe that he or she will be released within 18 months of filing. This requires a certificate from the superintendent of your spouse’s institution and a supporting statement from a physician who is treating your spouse.
• Mutual consent, if you and your spouse each file an affidavit saying that you consent to your divorce, your marriage is irretrievably broken and at least 90 days have passed since you filed.
• Irretrievable breakdown, if you have filed an affidavit saying that you and your spouse have lived separately for at least two years and your marriage is irretrievably broken, as long as your spouse doesn’t deny that your marriage is broken or, if he or she does disagree, the court finds your marriage is irretrievably broken.  

You will not be granted a divorce on the ground of adultery if the court finds that you:

• Have been guilty of adultery, too.
• Knew about the adultery but resumed sexual relations with your spouse.
• Allowed your spouse to commit adultery.
• Exposed your spouse to situations that resulted in adultery.