Filing for Divorce in Tennessee

1. What are the residency requirements for filing for divorce in Tennessee?  
You or your spouse must have lived in the state for at least six months before filing. In addition, the action or event that led you to file for divorce must have happened in Tennessee, or you must have been living in Tennessee when the action or event occurred, if it took place outside of Tennessee.  You also may file for a divorce in Tennessee if you have been stationed there with the armed services for at least a year. You must file in the county in which you or your spouse lives, or in the county where you and your spouse lived before you separated.  

2. Does Tennessee have a waiting period?       
Yes. If you and your spouse don’t have any children younger than 18, the court will not hear your case for at least 60 after you file. If you do have children under 18, you will have to wait at least 90 days for a hearing.  

3. Does the state have grounds for divorce?  
Tennessee allows you to file for a divorce on these grounds:

• Your spouse was impotent at the time of your marriage and remains so.
• Your spouse was already married at the time he or she married you.
• Your spouse committed adultery (the court will not allow this ground if you have been guilty of the same thing; or you knew about it and resumed marital relations anyway; or your spouse was paid for your adultery, as in prostitution; or your spouse put you in a position to commit adultery).
• Your spouse has been convicted of a crime.
• Your spouse has tried to kill you.
• Your spouse refused to move with you to Tennessee and has been absent for at least two years.
• The wife was pregnant by another person at the time of the marriage without her husband knowing of it.     
• Your spouse started to abuse drugs or alcohol after you were married.
• Your spouse treats you so cruelly and inhumanely that living with him or her is unsafe.
• Your spouse has treated you so poorly that you can no longer tolerate the situation.
• Your spouse has abandoned you or kicked you out, or failed to contribute toward basic necessities.  

You also may file on the ground of irreconcilable differences, as long as you and your spouse have a written agreement for the custody and support of your children and a fair settlement of any property rights. If the court doesn’t find that your agreement is sufficient or fair, your case may be continued, or you and your spouse may have to agree to amendments. You may file solely on the ground of irreconcilable differences or in conjunction with one of the other grounds. Finally, you may file for a divorce if you and your spouse have lived apart for at least two years and do not have any children under 18.  

4. How does Tennessee 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 only divide your marital property. In Tennessee, marital property is anything acquired by you or your spouse during your marriage, regardless of whose name is on the title. This includes any income from or increase in value of your separate property if you or your spouse substantially contributed to the upkeep or appreciation of that property during your marriage (whether as a homemaker, wage earner, parent or in some other way). It includes the value of pensions, stock options and retirement benefits that accrued during your marriage. It also includes workers’ comp benefits or personal injury awards for wages lost during your marriage, reimbursement of medical bills that you paid for with marital property, or compensation for damage to marital property.  

Separate property in Tennessee is:

• All property that you owned before your marriage, including money in an IRA.
• Property that you received in exchange for property that you acquired before you were married.
• Any income from or increase in value of your separate property unless there was a substantial contribution by you and your spouse toward generating that income or increase in value during your marriage (see above).
• Property that you acquired by gift or inheritance.
• Any awards for pain and suffering, future medical expenses or future lost wages.
• Property that you acquired after you and your spouse legally separated, if the court made a final division of property at that time.  

The court will divide your property in whatever way it considers most equitable, or fair, regardless of who was at fault in your divorce. To determine what is fair, the court will take into consideration:

• How long you were married.
• You and your spouse’s ages and physical and mental health.
• You and your spouse’s skills, employability and earning capacities.
• You and your spouse’s estate, debts and needs.
• Any contribution that one of you made to the education, training or increased earning power of the other.
• You and your spouse’s abilities to earn future assets and income.
• The contributions each of you made toward the acquisition, care for, appreciation of or depreciation of your marital or separate property, with the contributions of a homemaker and a wage earner given equal weight.
• The value of you and your spouse’s separate property.
• You and your spouse’s estates at the time that you were married.
• The economic circumstances you each will face after your property is divided.
• The tax situation you each will face as a result of your division of property.
• The amount of Social Security benefits available to you and your spouse.
• Any prenuptial agreement between you and your spouse.
• Any other factors the court considers relevant.  

In awarding your family home or the right to live in it, the court may give special consideration to the parent who has physical custody of your child.  

5. Does Tennessee require mediation before a divorce is granted?  
The court in Tennessee may require you and your spouse to complete mediation and have a report on file with the court within 180 days of filing. Tennessee also often requires mediation when parents disagree over a parenting plan (unless there is evidence of domestic abuse by you or your spouse).