Jurisdiction

In the United States, the Federal Government does not have the authority to issue a divorce. Individual states have the only authority over issuing the acceptance of a marriage, and issuing its desolution; known as a divorce. This, then, raises the question of which state can you get divorced in?

All states have rules covering jurisdiction in the matter of divorce. This is typically a time frame the person filing the divorce has lived in the state in question. Most states require the person filing for a divorce to be a physical resident of the state for six months. Some states require twelve months and some states, like Nevada, only require six weeks. Without proper jurisdiction a state cannot issue a divorce.

In California, either you or your spouse must have been a resident of the state for at least six months prior to filing. You must also have lived for a minimum of three months in the county where you are filing for divorce.

No-fault divorce

Under a no-fault divorce system the dissolution of a marriage does not require an allegation or proof of fault of either party. Only three states (Mississippi, South Dakota and Tennessee) require mutual consent (in Tennessee it is needed only in certain circumstances) for a no-fault divorce to be granted.[15][24][25] No-fault grounds for divorce include incompatibility, irreconcilable differences, and irremediable breakdown of the marriage.

California’s Family Law Act of 1969

California adopted no-fault divorce with the Family Law Act of 1969, which became effective January 1, 1970.[45] The Act abolished California’s action for divorce and replaced it with a proceeding for dissolution of marriage on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. The grounds of irreconcilable differences are accepted as true, and can be based on the assertions of one of the parties to the marriage.

Source: Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.