Divorce in Indiana: what to expect
What a divorce in Indiana actually involves: how property is divided, how long you must have lived there, what you have to prove, how long it takes, and what the court is deciding about the children. Indiana is an equitable distribution state. The court divides marital property fairly, which is not the same as equally, and the difference is where the argument happens.
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Every line below is taken from the statute or the court, and the citation is next to it so you can check us. It is still not advice about your case. The same statute produces very different outcomes on different facts, and the parts that decide your outcome — the length of the marriage, who earned what, whose name is on what — are not on this page because we do not know them. Use this to know what questions to ask, not to predict an answer.
Indiana at a glance
Every row is cited. Where a row says we could not confirm it, that is exactly what it means — we went looking and would not guess.
| Question | The answer in this state | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Property division | equitable distribution | Ind. Code § 31-15-7-5 |
| How it works in practice | Indiana courts start from a statutory presumption that an equal (50/50) division of marital property is just and reasonable; a party can rebut this presumption with evidence of relevant factors like contribution, acquisition, economic circumstances, and conduct affecting property disposition. | Ind. Code § 31-15-7-5 not re-checked |
| Residency requirement | At least one spouse must have been a resident of Indiana for 6 months, and a resident of the filing county for 3 months, before filing. | Ind. Code § 31-15-2-6 not re-checked |
| Waiting period | A minimum 60-day waiting period applies from the date the petition is filed before the dissolution decree can be finalized. | Ind. Code § 31-15-2-10 not re-checked |
| The no-fault ground | Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. | Ind. Code § 31-15-2-3 not re-checked |
| Filing fee | Set locally by the clerk, not statewide. Check your county | — |
| Alimony | We could not confirm this at a primary source | — not re-checked |
| Custody standard | Best interests of the child, considering statutory factors (age/sex of the child, parents’ wishes, child’s wishes if of sufficient age, relationships with parents/siblings, adjustment to home/school/community, mental/physical health, and any history of domestic or family violence). | Ind. Code § 31-17-2-8 not re-checked |
| Any parenting-time presumption | None — the statute explicitly states there is no presumption favoring either parent. | Ind. Code § 31-17-2-8 |
Grounds: what you have to say happened
The no-fault ground in Indiana is: Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.. Ind. Code § 31-15-2-3
Fault grounds still exist here. They are rarely worth using and they make a case longer and more expensive, but they exist, and in some states they can affect property or alimony:
- impotence existing at the time of marriage
- conviction of a felony after the marriage
- incurable insanity for at least 2 years
What is unusual about Indiana
The things that surprise people who assumed their state works like the one they read about.
- Indiana’s equal-division presumption for property (§31-15-7-5) is a stronger statutory starting point toward a 50/50 split than most equitable-distribution states use.
How long you were married. Almost every alimony statute in the country turns on it, and most have unwritten thresholds judges apply. Whose name is on what. It matters far less than people expect in a community property state and far more than people expect for a house bought before the marriage. Whether either of you brought money in. Separate property stays separate until it is mixed with marital money, and then the argument is about how thoroughly. The questions that decide it are here.
Compiled 31 August 2026 from Indiana statutes and court sources, each linked in the table. Re-read against the statutes on 3 September 2026. 6 of the rows above are marked not re-checked because our tools could not reach this state’s official statute site that day; those rows still rest on the 31 August 2026 reading. Statutes change, and several states have changed theirs recently. Tell us if we have one wrong.
Keep reading
- The Indiana divorce kit — forms, fees and deadlines
- Legal help in Indiana you can afford
- Who gets what — the questions that decide it
- What a Indiana divorce costs
- What two households cost
- What people wish they had known