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Michigan Divorce Filing Requirements and Waiting Periods
Michigan sets three separate statutory thresholds before a divorce judgment can be entered. They govern where the parties have lived, what the complaint is allowed to say, and how much time has to pass before a court will take testimony. None of the three turns on which spouse is at fault.
The residency test requires one spouse to have lived in Michigan for 180 days and in the filing county for 10 days immediately before the complaint is filed, under MCL 552.9(1). The timing rule stops a court from taking proofs for 60 days after filing, or six months where there are dependent minor children under 18, under MCL 552.9f. Those numbers are floors rather than estimates, and most divorces take longer than the floor rather than exactly as long.
The Residency Test and Its One Exception
Michigan’s residency test is a two-part requirement that one spouse has lived in the state for 180 days and in the filing county for 10 days before the complaint is filed. Both parts run to the date of filing, and either spouse can satisfy them. Divorce is filed in circuit court, which is the forum for every Michigan family law matter rather than district court. A person who moved into a new county last week can still file, in the county left behind, so long as the 10 days were met there.
The statute waives the 10-day county requirement in one situation, and it takes three conditions together rather than one. The defendant must have been born in or be a citizen of a country other than the United States. The parties must have a minor child. And there must be information allowing the court to reasonably conclude that the child is at risk of being taken out of the United States and kept in another country by the defendant. All three have to be set out in the complaint.
The 180-day state requirement is not waived by that provision. Only the county requirement is, and the point of the waiver is to let a parent file quickly in whichever Michigan county is practical when a child may be about to leave the country.
Why the Complaint Cannot Explain What Went Wrong
Michigan is a no-fault state, and MCL 552.6(1) is stricter about that than most people expect. A complaint alleges that there has been a breakdown of the marriage relationship to the extent that the objects of matrimony have been destroyed and there remains no reasonable likelihood that the marriage can be preserved. The same subsection then says the plaintiff “shall make no other explanation of the grounds for divorce than by the use of the statutory language.”
A spouse cannot plead adultery, cruelty, or desertion as grounds, and there is no advantage to be gained by trying. The defendant may admit or deny that language without further explanation, and an admission is not binding on the court either way. Where the evidence of breakdown is presented in open court, the statute says the court shall enter a judgment dissolving the marriage.
Conduct still has a place in a divorce, though not as grounds. Fault can be weighed in dividing property and in deciding spousal support, which is a separate question from whether the divorce is granted. Our Michigan property division attorneys deal with that distinction constantly, because clients reasonably assume the two are connected.
What the Waiting Period Actually Stops
MCL 552.9f is usually described as a waiting period, and it is more precise than that. The statute bars a court from taking proofs or testimony until 60 days from the filing of the complaint, and until six months where there are dependent minor children under 18. Nothing stops the case from moving during that time. Discovery, temporary orders, and negotiation all proceed.
The 60-day rule carries an exception for desertion. The six-month rule carries a different one. In cases of unusual hardship, or such compelling necessity as shall appeal to the conscience of the court, a judge may take testimony any time after 60 days on petition and a proper showing. That shortens the six months to the same 60-day floor, and it is a real motion with a real standard rather than a formality.
The question I get asked first is almost never about grounds. It is about how long this will take, and the honest answer is that the statute sets the earliest possible date, while the parties and the county docket set the actual one.
When the Other Spouse Lives Out of State
The same statute adds a requirement that catches people by surprise. Where the defendant was not domiciled in Michigan when the suit began, or was not domiciled here when the cause for divorce arose, the complainant must prove one of two things before a judgment enters. Either the parties actually lived and cohabited as spouses within Michigan, or the complainant has in good faith resided in Michigan for one year immediately before filing.
That is a longer period than the 180-day residency test, and it applies on top of it. A person who moved to Michigan seven months ago, leaving a spouse who has never lived here, meets the residency test and still cannot finish the case on residence alone until the year is up.
Threshold questions are cheaper to get right at filing than to correct afterward, and we review filing eligibility for clients across Michigan before a complaint goes in. We talk these questions through with you. Call us at (800) 525-6386.
Before a Complaint Is Filed in Circuit Court
Filing correctly the first time avoids a dismissal on a threshold that has nothing to do with the merits, and the thresholds interact in ways that are not obvious from any one statute. At Neumann Law Group, we represent spouses through every stage of a Michigan divorce, from the first filing question through judgment. If you would like us to look at your situation, call (800) 525-6386 or contact us through our website.