Filing for Divorce in Arkansas

Either the plaintiff or the defendant must have been a resident of Arkansas for sixty (60) days next before the divorce complaint is filed, and residence in the state must continue for three (3) full months before the final judgment/decree is entered. "Residence" is defined by the statute as actual presence, and proof of actual presence is sufficient to establish domicile for this purpose, no separate corroborating-witness requirement is stated for residency itself.

Ark. Code Ann. § 9-12-307

Source: arkleg.state.ar.us

Two distinct waiting-period rules apply. (1) Under § 9-12-310, no decree of absolute divorce (or divorce from bed and board) may be rendered in any action except one based on bigamy before the 30th day following the day the divorce action was commenced; this 30-day floor is not waivable by the parties, though they may agree to submit the case in vacation. (2) That 30-day floor does not apply, i.e., is excused, if the parties have lived separate and apart for twelve (12) months immediately before the complaint was filed, or if the defendant is constructively summoned by publication of a warning order. Separately, § 9-12-307 also states no decree shall be granted until at least thirty (30) days have elapsed from the date residency attaches. Note this 12-month waiting-period-exception figure is distinct from the 18-month separation period required to use "separate and apart" itself as a no-fault ground for divorce under § 9-12-301, the two statutes use different time periods for related but separate purposes.

Ark. Code Ann. §§ 9-12-310, 9-12-307

Source: arkleg.state.ar.us

$165.00 to initiate a domestic relations (divorce) case in circuit court. This is a uniform, state-set fee, not a county-set fee: Ark. Code Ann. § 21-6-403(f) expressly bars a county from authorizing, and a circuit clerk from assessing or collecting, any filing fee other than what state statute authorizes. The $165 figure is documented on the Pulaski County (Little Rock) Circuit/County Clerk's official 'Court Filings Fee Schedule,' which cites Ark. Code Ann. §§ 21-6-402, 21-6-403, 21-6-413, and 21-6-416 collectively as its authority for 'initiating ANY cause of action in Circuit Court (CIVIL, DOMESTIC, PROBATE cases, including appeals), $165.00.' A separately mirrored version of § 21-6-403(b) alone shows a $150.00 base fee for 'initiating a cause of action in the circuit court'; the remaining ~$15 reflects additional mandatory add-on fees authorized by the other three cited sections (e.g., law library and related statutory assessments), which is consistent with how Arkansas circuit clerks itemize the total. Arkansas's own judiciary (arcourts.gov) does not publish one consolidated statewide fee table, so this figure is confirmed via a circuit clerk's official publication of the state-mandated schedule rather than a single AOC fee page.

Source: media.ark.org

Arkansas does not publish a numbered, statewide 'Complaint for Divorce' form through the Arkansas Judiciary, this mirrors the situation in states like Texas. The Arkansas Supreme Court Library's own official guide, 'Arkansas Legal Forms: Sources of Information' (updated 11/7/2022), lists what the Arkansas Judiciary's Court Forms page provides as examples, Probate Division forms, Child Support forms, Order of Protection forms, and does not include a divorce complaint among them; the same guide directs self-represented litigants to Arkansas Law Help (Legal Aid of Arkansas / Center for Arkansas Legal Services) for 'self-help forms regarding civil (non-criminal) matters.' In practice, the pleading is titled 'Complaint for Divorce' and is either attorney-drafted or produced through Legal Aid of Arkansas's free interactive 'Divorce Packet' tool (a guided online interview, not a static numbered state form) rather than downloaded as a single official numbered document from the state judiciary.

Source: arcourts.gov

In Forma Pauperis Affidavit (Arkansas Judiciary form, filed pursuant to Rule 72 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure, current version titled 'In-Forma-Pauperis-Affidavit-see-Rule-72-2026'), published on the Arkansas Judiciary's Court Forms page. A related 'Affidavit of Financial Means' is also published and is separately used in domestic-relations/support proceedings.

Source: arcourts.gov

Court-by-court / circuit-by-circuit patchwork on top of one statewide technical platform, not a single uniform statewide mandate. Arkansas's statewide e-filing system is eFlex (powered by Tybera), accessed via https://efile.arcourts.gov and https://eflex.arcourts.gov. eFlex is open to Arkansas-licensed attorneys, pro hac vice attorneys, and pro se litigants, but for pro se litigants, eligibility is expressly limited to 'a particular case in which the court has mandated electronic filing,' meaning mandatory e-filing for self-represented parties is set case-by-case/court-by-court rather than applying automatically statewide. Individual circuit clerks have rolled out local mandatory-e-filing orders on their own timelines, for example, Sebastian County's Circuit Court began mandatory e-filing on August 1, 2023 for its Probate, Civil, Juvenile, and Domestic divisions, but even there the mandate explicitly excludes 'case initiation documents that require a fee' (i.e., the original filed complaint/petition itself, which a divorce plaintiff must still file conventionally in that county). Filers should confirm current e-filing status and any petition-filing exceptions with the specific county circuit clerk.

Source: eflex.arcourts.gov

How property is divided

Equitable distribution, not community property. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 9-12-315, all marital property is presumptively divided one-half to each party, but the court may divide it unequally if it finds an equal division inequitable, after weighing factors including the length of the marriage; the age, health, and station in life of each party; occupation, income sources, and vocational skills/employability; the estate, liabilities, and needs of each party; each party's contribution to acquiring, preserving, or increasing the marital property (including as a homemaker); and federal income tax consequences. A court that deviates from an equal split must state its reasons in the order. Property owned before the marriage or acquired by gift or inheritance is generally excluded from the marital estate subject to division.

Source: arkleg.state.ar.us

Court structure

Divorce actions are filed and heard in Circuit Court, Arkansas's single-tier trial court of general jurisdiction under Arkansas Constitution Amendment 80, in the domestic relations subject-matter area. Venue lies in the county where the plaintiff resides, unless the plaintiff is a nonresident, in which case venue lies where the defendant resides (§ 9-12-303). Every domestic relations filing must be accompanied by the state-mandated Domestic Relations Cover Sheet, reflecting that circuit courts track domestic relations as a distinct docket category even though there is no separate statewide family court.

Source: arkleg.state.ar.us

Serving the other spouse

General service and venue rules are set out in § 9-12-303. For a nonresident or otherwise unreachable defendant, § 9-12-319 permits constructive service through a warning order published against the defendant; before a decree can be entered on that basis, proof of publication must be filed with the circuit clerk and an attorney ad litem appointed for the absent defendant must file a report or response. A decree entered this way has the same binding legal effect as one entered on personal service. This warning-order/publication mechanism is also the specific route by which the standard 30-day waiting period under § 9-12-310 can be excused.

Source: arkleg.state.ar.us

Spousal support

Purely judicial discretion, Arkansas has no alimony formula or numeric guideline. Ark. Code Ann. § 9-12-312(a) directs the court to make an alimony order 'as are reasonable from the circumstances of the parties and the nature of the case,' and either party may later petition to modify or review an alimony order based on a significant and material change of circumstances. This stands in contrast to Arkansas's child support guidelines, which do use a formal chart-based model.

Source: arkleg.state.ar.us

Child support guideline

Income Shares Model. The Arkansas Supreme Court adopted the revised, Income-Shares-based version of Administrative Order No. 10 (Arkansas Child Support Guidelines) by per curiam order 'In Re Implementation of the Revised Administrative Order No. 10,' 2020 Ark. 131, decided April 2, 2020, implementing the change directed by Act 907 of 2019 (codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 9-12-312(a)(4)). The revised, Income-Shares-based guidelines are required for all child support orders entered after June 30, 2020, superseding the prior payor-income-only percentage model that Arkansas had used since the 1990s.

Source: arcourts.gov

Parenting class requirement

Not confirmed either way from a primary source.

Discretionary, not automatically mandatory statewide. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 9-12-322, where divorcing parents have minor children residing with one or both of them, the court MAY require the parties to complete at least two hours of parenting-issues classes, or to submit to mediation regarding parenting, custody, and visitation, each party bears their own cost, and a party may move to dispense with a mediation referral for good cause. Because the statute is permissive ('may'), whether a parenting class is actually required depends on the individual judge/circuit rather than being a uniform statewide mandate.

Source: arkleg.state.ar.us