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Divorce FAQs
How do I get divorced in Arkansas?
- When considering asking the court for a divorce, you must first ensure you are an Arkansas resident and can claim at least one statutory ground for divorce. See below Arkansas Code Annotated § 9-12-301 et al. If you are missing one or both of these requirements, you cannot get a divorce in this state.
- Next, consult with an attorney! A good lawyer should be able to help you with issues such as alimony, division the martial debt, and sale of of martial residence. If children are involved, custody and child support are considered. At Rooster Law, we navigate our clients through such issues as well as handling associated matters such utilizing a spouse's retirement account as a part of a Qualified Domestic Relations Order(QDRO) in order to pay a settlement/support to the other spouse.
- Once you and your attorney have a plan, it's time to draft your petition, file all the paperwork with the court, and serve the legal papers on your spouse. Keep in mind that if your spouse disagrees with anything in your divorce petition, he/she may contest your claims in court with or without an attorney. Such contesting over custody or property disputes are often why divorces are such a slow process. However, if your spouse agrees with the divorce petition, then he/ she may simply ignore the service. Ideally, your spouse would sign and return certain legal papers drafted by your lawyer, in which case the court will most likely approve your divorce in short order. Either scenario, which you spouse does not contest your divorce related claims, is called an uncontested divorce.
What are the grounds for divorce in Arkansas?
There are nine grounds for divorce in the state of Arkansas, but there is only one no-fault ground: Separation, which is defined as having lived without cohabitation and separately from your spouse for a continuous period of at least eighteen months.
The eight fault-based grounds for divorce in the state of Arkansas are:
- Impotence - "When either party, at the time of the contract, was and still is impotent." A.C.A. § 9-12-301(b)(1).
- Felony conviction - "When either party shall be convicted of a felony or other infamous crime." A.C.A. § 9-12-301(b)(2).
- Drunkenness - When either spouse is "addicted to habitual drunkenness for one (1) year." A.C.A. § 9-12-301(b)(3)(A).
- Cruel and inhuman treatment - when either spouse is "guilty of such cruel and barbarous treatment as to endanger the life of the other." A.C.A. § 9-12-301(b)(3)(B).
- Humiliation - when either spouse inflicts "such indignities to the person of the other as shall render his or her condition intolerable." A.C.A. § 9-12-301(b)(3)(C).
- Adultery - "When either party shall have committed adultery subsequent to the marriage." A.C.A. § 9-12-301(b)(4).
- Incurable insanity - "[C]ases in which a husband and wife have lived separate and apart for three (3) consecutive years without cohabitation by reason of the incurable insanity of one (1) of them...." A.C.A. § 9-12-301(b)(6).
- Lack of support - "When either spouse legally obligated to support the other, and having the ability to provide the other with the common necessaries of life, willfully fails to do so." A.C.A. § 9-12-301(b)(7).
What are the residency requirements and other matters to be proved for divorce?
- You or your spouse must have been a resident of Arkansas for at least sixty days before filing the divorce petition and for at least three full months before the final judgment granting the decree of divorce. A.C.A. § 9-12-307(a)(1)(A).
- Additionally, the ground(s) for divorce must have occurred or existed in Arkansas, or if it occurred or existed in another state, it must still be a legal ground for divorce in Arkansas, in which case Arkansas law will apply. A.C.A. § 9-12-307(a)(2).
- Finally, the ground(s) for divorce must have occurred or been in existence within the last five years. In other words, if the ground(s) for divorce stopped occurring or existing more than five years ago, it no longer counts as a legal ground(s) for divorce in Arkansas. A.C.A. § 9-12-307(a)(3).
Who gets alimony support?
If one spouse is the primary earner, changing from a joint household income into two single households can be overwhelming on families. Arkansas judges recognize this and may award support in the form of either: temporary, permanent or rehabilitative alimony.
- Temporary alimony typically lasts from the time of filing the divorce petition though end of the divorce case. It is often awarded to the lower-earning spouse in order to provide financial support from the time of the divorce filing to the final order.
- Permanent alimony, while once more common especially in cases of long-term marriages, is now generally reserved only for spouses with very poor employment prospects due to ill health, advanced age, or related disability.
- Rehabilitative alimony is the most common type of support, and it is temporary in nature. It is usually awarded when a spouse surrendered a career during the marriage in order to raise the couple's family, provide a home, or to support the other spouse's career. Rehabilitative alimony orders usually state an end date or provide a date for your case to be reevaluated.
While there is gender requirement or no exact formula for figuring alimony in Arkansas, our Supreme Court has provided a presumption that 20% of a spouse's net income, along with child support, is an appropriate rehabilitative award for a dependent spouse who is also a custodial parent. (Ark. Code Ann. §9-12-212.)
What about child support?
In court actions, judges ensure that parents meet their financial obligation to support children by ordering child support. This means the noncustodial parent or in the case of join custody, the parent higher income, must make regular child support payments to the custodial/other parent . Arkansas law follows the "percentage of income" method for calculating child support payments. This statutory child support formula directly accounts for parents who share custody of children. Childcare costs and extraordinary medical costs are considered in this formula. These costs may be additions to the basic Arkansas child support order.
So, the "percentage of income" of the non-custodial parent is paid monthly to the custodial parent to cover basic child support expenses. The percentage paid may stay the same or change as non-custodial parent's income changes. In formulating child support, Arkansas law does account for shared custody of a child. So, in cases where custody is shared, the amount of child support paid by the paying parent will be reduced by having more time and custody of the child.