Filing for Divorce in Vermont

• Determine that you have lived apart for the required length of time.
• Or that reconciliation is unlikely.
• Delay further hearings in your case for 30 to 60 days and suggest that you and your spouse receive counseling.  

• Your spouse committed adultery — had an affair.
• Your spouse is in prison and sentenced to at least three years.
• Your spouse is guilty of intolerable severity, meaning your spouse treats you in such a way that your health and well-being are at risk.
• Your spouse has deserted you and has been gone for at least seven years.
• Your spouse refuses to contribute to basic necessities.
• Your spouse is incurably insane. To file on this ground, your spouse must have been in a mental institution for at least five years, and it must appear to the court that he or she is incurable. You must have lived in Vermont for two years to file on this ground. And you may be required to financially support your spouse.  
• You also may file on the ground that you and your spouse have lived apart for six months and that there is no reasonable hope of reconciliation.

4. How does Vermont 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. All property owned by either you or your spouse will be considered, regardless of whose name is on the title or how and when you acquired it. The court will divide your property in whatever way it decides is equitable, or fair.  

In determining what is fair, the court will consider these factors:

• How long you were married.
• You and your spouse’s ages and health.
• You and your spouse’s occupations and sources and amounts of income.
• You and your spouse’s skills and employability.
• Any contributions you or your spouse made to the education, training or increased earning power of the other.
• The value of you and your spouse’s assets, debts and needs.
• Whether alimony will be awarded in addition to or instead of a property settlement.
• Whether the right to live in or own your family home should be awarded to the parent with physical custody of your child.
• Which of you acquired your property.
• You and your spouse’s contributions to the acquisition, care of, appreciation or depreciation of your property, including contributions as a homemaker.
• You and your spouse’s respective merits, meaning who is at fault in your divorce.  

5. Does Vermont require mediation before a divorce is granted?  
Mediation is not required, but the court may order it in your case, in particular to settle disputes over child custody and visitation.