Divorce in Indiana, start to finish

Indiana’s statewide self-represented forms fork on exactly two facts — whether there are minor children of the marriage, and whether the spouses agree — which gives four real packets. Two smaller choices sit inside each packet: whether temporary orders are being asked for, and whether the other spouse signs a Waiver of Service or has to be formally served. The packet determines everything downstream, so it is worth reading the four descriptions before opening any of them.

Residency first. Ind. Code § 31-15-2-6 requires at least one spouse to have lived in Indiana for 6 months and in the filing county for 3 months immediately before filing. There is no workaround for it.

The 60-day clock. Ind. Code § 31-15-2-10 sets a 60-day waiting period that runs from the date of filing. Day 60 does not finish anything by itself — a second filing has to happen after it, on either route.

Indiana does not publish each form as its own separate PDF the way some states do. The Coalition for Court Access — the statewide access-to-justice partnership the Indiana courts point self-represented filers to — bundles the forms into four packet PDFs. Here are all four, and then the complete list of what is inside them, not a shortlist. The codes are the official form identifiers printed in the footer of each page; the Route column says which packet each one sits in.

Every one of these is free. The “In packet” links open the packet PDF — the form is the page with that code printed in its footer. The Waiver of Service and the Child Support Obligation Worksheet are published separately and download on their own. Download fresh each time; revisions get superseded.

Indiana’s self-represented process is genuinely simpler on paper than most states’ — but it’s organized differently, and that trips people up who’ve read guides written for other states.

Almost everything in an Indiana dissolution counts from one date: the day you file the petition. Indiana Code § 31-15-2-10 sets a hard floor — no final hearing before sixty (60) days after filing — but it does not finish your case for you. Put in your filing date (and your service date, if you have it) and we’ll turn the statute into actual dates on your calendar.

Indiana doesn’t use a separate sworn financial-disclosure form the way some states do. Instead, if you have minor children, the number that matters is the child support figure calculated on the statewide worksheet and attached to your decree.

What this is. A guide to Indiana’s own process, built from the Indiana Code (Title 31, Article 15, Chapter 2 — including §§ 31-15-2-6, 31-15-2-10, and 31-15-2-13), the Indiana Trial Court Fee Manual published by the Indiana Office of Court Services, and the statewide self-represented divorce packets approved by the Coalition for Court Access and published at indianalegalhelp.org, which the Indiana Courts Self-Service Legal Center itself links to. The forms are free, and this guide links to the official packets rather than reselling them.

What this is not. The Cusp is not a law firm and does not practice law. Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing here tells you which choice is right for your particular situation — only what Indiana requires of each path. If your case involves contested custody, a business, hidden assets, domestic violence, or a spouse with a lawyer, talk to an attorney; many offer free consultations, and one hour of advice is cheaper than a case that stalls at day 60 because nobody filed the next form.

Confirm current numbers with the clerk. Filing fees, local parenting-class requirements, and fee-waiver thresholds are set or adjusted at the county level in places this guide could not fully verify for every county. Where a figure couldn’t be confirmed from an official source — Marion County’s exact filing fee, for one — this guide says so rather than guessing, and points you to the clerk or indianalegalhelp.org instead.