Residency Requirements for Divorce

Massachusetts residency requirements are required for the court to accept your case and to have the jurisdictional rights to adjudicate the case.  If you do not qualify for the residency requirement, your case will not be heard or it could be dismissed. 

In order to bring a divorce action to court in Massachusetts, one of the spouses must be a resident of Massachusetts if the grounds for divorce occurred in Massachusetts.  However, if the grounds for divorce occurred outside of Massachusetts then only one spouse must have been a resident of the state for at least 1 year.

Divorce cases are filed, heard and determined in the Family and Probate court in the county where one of the parties lives.