Filing for Divorce in Massachusetts

Two-tier rule under M.G.L. c. 208, §5, not a flat one-year rule. (1) If the grounds/cause of the divorce arose OUTSIDE Massachusetts, the plaintiff must have lived in Massachusetts for one full year immediately before filing. (2) If the grounds/cause arose WITHIN Massachusetts, the plaintiff need only be domiciled in Massachusetts at the time of filing, there is no fixed durational residency requirement in that scenario. As a forum-shopping safeguard, the same section bars the court from granting a divorce if the evidence shows the plaintiff moved into Massachusetts for the purpose of obtaining a divorce.

M.G.L. c. 208, §5

Source: malegislature.gov

Every Massachusetts divorce judgment enters first as a 'judgment nisi,' becoming absolute/final automatically 90 days after entry (M.G.L. c. 208, §21) unless the court orders otherwise for sufficient cause within that window. Getting to that nisi entry differs sharply by track. Section 1A joint petition (uncontested): after a hearing on the parties' separation agreement, the court has up to 30 days to find an irretrievable breakdown and approve the agreement; the judgment nisi then enters automatically 30 days after that approval, so an uncontested 1A divorce becomes absolute roughly 120 days after agreement approval (30-day approval-to-judgment delay plus the 90-day nisi period), not 90 days. Section 1B contested complaint (one spouse alone): the court may not hold the divorce hearing earlier than six months after filing (waivable only to consolidate with a cross-complaint), and the 90-day nisi period then runs from whatever judgment nisi results from that hearing, so a contested divorce cannot become final before roughly 6 months plus case-processing time plus 90 days. There is no separate statutory pre-filing separation or 'cooling off' period distinct from the residency/domicile requirement in §5.

M.G.L. c. 208, §21 (90-day nisi period, applies to all judgments); M.G.L. c. 208, §1A (30-day delay between agreement approval and entry of judgment nisi in the joint-petition track); M.G.L. c. 208, §1B (6-month minimum from filing to hearing in the contested track)

Source: malegislature.gov

$200 base filing fee plus a $15 surcharge = $215 total, per the Probate and Family Court's official filing fee schedule. The schedule lists a single 'Divorce, Complaint' fee line (used for Complaint and Joint Petition filings alike); the page contains no statement that the fee varies by county/division.

Source: mass.gov

Joint Petition for Divorce Pursuant to G.L. c. 208, §1A (form CJD-101A, Rev. 10/2007) for the uncontested joint-petition track; Complaint for Divorce under G.L. c. 208, §1B (form CJD-101B, Rev. 10/2007) for the contested track; the general-purpose Complaint for Divorce (form CJD-101, Rev. 7/2007), including for fault-ground filings. Every divorce/annulment complaint or petition must also be filed with the Divorce or Annulment, Certification of Vital Statistics (form R-408, Rev. 4/2015).

Source: mass.gov

Affidavit of Indigency (for use in all Massachusetts trial courts; current PDF revision 6/20), plus the Supplement to the Affidavit of Indigency (Rev. 6/20), required only if the filer checks option (C) on the main form.

Source: mass.gov

Statewide, all divisions, eFiling is available in every Probate and Family Court division, 24/7, via eFileMA (Odyssey File & Serve / Tyler Technologies), and covers both the Divorce 1A (joint petition) and Divorce 1B (complaint) case types. Per the court's own eFiling guide, eFiling is currently optional, not mandatory.

Source: mass.gov

How property is divided

Equitable distribution state (not community property). Under M.G.L. c. 208, §34, the court divides marital property, not necessarily 50/50, after considering statutory factors: length of the marriage; conduct of the parties during the marriage; age, health, station, occupation, and amount/sources of income; vocational skills and employability; each party's estate, liabilities, and needs; opportunity for future acquisition of capital assets and income; and each party's contribution, including as homemaker, to the marital estate.

Source: malegislature.gov

Spousal support

Massachusetts has statutory alimony guidelines under the Alimony Reform Act, M.G.L. c. 208, §§48-55. General term alimony duration is capped by length of marriage (absent a written finding that deviation serves the interests of justice), per §49(b): marriage of 5 years or less, up to 50% of the number of months married; over 5 up to 10 years, up to 60%; over 10 up to 15 years, up to 70%; over 15 up to 20 years, up to 80%; marriage longer than 20 years, the court may order alimony for an indefinite duration (§49(c)). General term alimony also generally terminates when the payor reaches full Social Security retirement age, absent good cause, and on the recipient's remarriage or either party's death.

Source: malegislature.gov

Child support guideline

The Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines (2025 edition, effective December 1, 2025) combine both parents' gross income and apply a table-based worksheet (Table A) to set a base support obligation split proportionally between the parents, up to $450,000 in combined annual parental income (above that, support is at the court's discretion). Note: this combined-income, proportional-split mechanism is what family-law commentators commonly call an 'income shares' model, but the official mass.gov guidelines document and its introductory material do not themselves use the term 'income shares', that label was not found verbatim in the primary source text reviewed.

Source: mass.gov

Parenting class requirement

Not confirmed either way from a primary source.

Mandatory. Under Probate and Family Court Standing Order 3-23 (effective February 12, 2024), both parents in a Complaint for Divorce under §1B, a Complaint for Separate Support, a Complaint to Establish Paternity, or a Complaint for Custody/Support/Parenting Time filed on or after the effective date must complete the court-approved 'Two Families Now' co-parenting course (a 4-hour online course, $49 per parent, fee-waivable via the Affidavit of Indigency). Parents must register within 30 calendar days of service and complete the course within 30 days of registering, then file a Certificate of Completion within 14 calendar days of finishing. Limited waivers exist (e.g., a documented pattern of behavior making communication unsafe, language barriers, incarceration/unavailability of a parent, an already-filed written custody/parenting agreement, or prior completion of the course).

Source: mass.gov

Residency exceptions

M.G.L. c. 208, §5 functions as its own exception structure: a spouse can skip the one-year residency requirement entirely if the grounds for divorce arose in Massachusetts and the plaintiff is currently domiciled there. Conversely, the same section blocks the court from granting a divorce if the evidence shows the plaintiff moved to Massachusetts for the purpose of obtaining a divorce.

Source: malegislature.gov