Annulment of void marriage; declaration of validity; effect of declaration. (1) A marriage may be declared void from the beginning for any of the causes specified in ORS 106.020; and, whether so declared or not, shall be deemed and held to be void in any action, suit or proceeding in which it may come into question.

A divorce formally dissolves a legal marriage. While married couples do not possess a constitutional or legal right to divorce, states permit divorces because to do so best serves public policy.

Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the termination of a marriage, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between two persons. In most countries, divorce requires the sanction of a judge or other authority in a legal process to complete a divorce. A divorce does not declare a marriage null and void, as in an annulment, but divorce cancels the marital status of the parties, allowing them to marry another.

At the end of the 1960s, the U.S. divorce laws underwent major changes and the divorce rate more than doubled in all of the states. The new laws introduced unilateral divorce in most of the states, and changes in divorce settlements, such as property division and child custody assignments in every state.

This page links to the divorce laws of the states and to tables summarizing some of their salient points.

A divorce decree issued in a foreign country generally is recognized in a state in the United States on the basis of comity (Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U.S. 113, 163-64 (1895), provided both parties to the divorce received adequate notice, i.e., service of process and, generally, provided one of the parties was a domiciliary in the foreign nation at the time of the divorce.

The Family Law Quarterly publishes these charts in conjunction with the annual "Family Law in the Fifty States Case Digests." The charts summarize basic laws in each state by topic, including custody, alimony and grounds for divorce. All charts are current as of January 2008.

A divorce obtained in another jurisdiction shall be of no force or effect in this state if both parties to the marriage were domiciled in this state at the time the proceeding for the divorce was commenced.

Adopted Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, Washington.

It is the intent of the legislature that marital property is a form of community property.

Adopted in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Washington.

Adopted in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia.