U.S. Legal System Listings

The listings assembled here serve as structured reference entries for divorce and family law topics within the U.S. legal system, organized to support research, procedural orientation, and jurisdictional comparison. Each entry maps to a defined legal concept, statute class, or procedural stage within the civil court framework that governs the dissolution of marriage across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The scope covers substantive law, procedural rules, evidentiary standards, and cross-jurisdictional mechanisms. Understanding how these entries are structured helps users locate precise information without misreading a directory category as legal guidance.

What each listing covers

Each listing in this directory addresses a discrete, named area of divorce and family law as recognized by state statute, federal code, or model uniform acts published by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC). The ULC has produced foundational texts — including the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act (UMDA), the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), and the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) — that form the structural backbone of multistate listings in this directory.

Listings do not provide jurisdiction-specific legal advice. They describe the legal framework, identify the governing authority (state court, federal statute, or model act), and outline the procedural mechanism. For example, a listing on marital property division laws will identify whether a jurisdiction follows community property or equitable distribution principles, cite the relevant statutory framework, and describe how courts apply that framework — without recommending an outcome for any particular fact pattern.

Topic coverage spans five functional categories:

1. Substantive law topics — The legal rules governing outcomes (property division, spousal support and alimony, child custody law, child support)
2. Procedural law topics — Court processes, timelines, and filing requirements (divorce filing process, temporary orders, discovery)
3. Jurisdictional and threshold topics — Residency, domicile, and subject matter jurisdiction (divorce jurisdiction requirements, federal vs. state divorce law)
4. Alternative dispute resolution topics — Non-trial resolution mechanisms (divorce mediation, collaborative divorce law)
5. Specialized circumstance topics — Fact patterns with distinct legal treatment (military divorce law, international divorce and U.S. jurisdiction, same-sex divorce law)

Geographic distribution

The directory reflects national scope across all U.S. states and territories, with entries differentiated where state law diverges materially from a national baseline. The most structurally significant divergence runs along the community property vs. equitable distribution axis. As of the current Uniform Law Commission roster, 9 states — Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin — follow community property doctrine. The remaining 41 states apply equitable distribution principles. These two frameworks generate distinct listing sets: community property states and divorce versus equitable distribution states.

Geographic entries also flag where federal law intersects state proceedings. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, governs how retirement plan assets are divided through Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) regardless of which state the divorce occurs in — making QDRO and retirement asset division a nationally uniform listing rather than a state-variable one. Similarly, divorce and Social Security benefits reflects rules set by the Social Security Administration (SSA) under 42 U.S.C. § 402, which apply uniformly across jurisdictions.

State-specific residency thresholds for filing — ranging from 6 weeks in Nevada to 12 months in states such as Massachusetts — are catalogued under residency requirements for divorce by state, which functions as a comparative reference rather than a single-jurisdiction entry.

How to read an entry

Each directory entry follows a consistent internal structure designed to prevent misreading across reader types — lay researchers, law students, and legal professionals. The standard entry format contains the following discrete elements:

1. Topic name and classification — The legal category and whether it is substantive, procedural, jurisdictional, or specialized
2. Governing authority — The named statute, model act, federal agency rule, or court rule that controls the topic
3. Jurisdictional scope — National, multistate, or state-variable
4. Mechanism description — How the legal rule operates in practice, including thresholds, burdens of proof, or standard of review where applicable
5. Key distinctions — Contrasts with adjacent legal concepts (e.g., legal separation vs. divorce, or annulment vs. divorce)
6. Cross-references — Links to procedurally or substantively related entries

When two entries address overlapping subject matter, the distinction in scope is made explicit. The entry for contested vs. uncontested divorce, for instance, addresses procedural classification at the case level, while the entry for divorce trial procedures addresses the adjudicative process that applies only to contested matters that proceed past settlement.

What listings include and exclude

Listings include any topic that meets three threshold criteria: it is a recognized legal doctrine, procedural rule, or statutory category; it operates within the U.S. civil court system governing family law; and it has a definable scope that can be described in neutral, reference-grade terms without case-specific legal analysis.

Listings exclude attorney advertising, referral content, jurisdiction-specific court forms, and procedural guidance tailored to a specific county or district. The directory does not aggregate practitioner profiles or fee schedules. The purpose and scope of this directory document provides the governing criteria in full.

Listings also exclude topics that fall outside civil family law — criminal domestic matters, juvenile delinquency proceedings, and immigration court procedures are referenced only where they intersect directly with a civil divorce proceeding, as in divorce and immigration status or domestic violence and divorce law.

The divorce law glossary functions as a companion reference to the listing entries, defining technical terms used across entries without duplicating the substantive content of individual topic pages.