Yes, you can get a divorce if you have been married less than a year. The legal process is the same as for any other marriage, and short marriages often qualify for faster, simpler tracks. How quickly you can finish depends mostly on your state’s mandatory waiting period, whether you meet residency rules, and whether you and your spouse agree on the terms.
Your State’s Waiting Period Sets the Floor
Before anything else, check whether your state imposes a mandatory cooling-off period between filing the petition and the judge signing the final judgment. About 35 states enforce some version of this rule, and no amount of agreement between spouses can shorten it. Florida’s is among the shortest at 20 days. California’s runs six months and one day. Roughly 15 states have no waiting period at all, which means a judge can finalize an uncontested case as soon as the paperwork clears.
Some states also require a period of separation before you are allowed to file. That is separate from the post-filing waiting period. Where both exist, the two timelines stack. Knowing both numbers upfront saves you from thinking you’re almost done when you technically haven’t started.
Residency Requirements
Most states require at least one spouse to have lived in the state for a minimum period before filing, typically six months to a year. Some also require residency in the specific county where you file, often for an additional 30 to 90 days. If you recently moved, you may need to wait before you’re eligible to file locally, or file in the state you left.
Active-duty service members have more flexibility. Most states allow filing in the state where either spouse currently lives, the state where the service member is stationed, or the service member’s home state of record. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act also lets deployed personnel request a stay of at least 90 days if military duties prevent them from participating in the case. That protects a deployed spouse from a default judgment, but it can also slow things down for a spouse hoping to finalize quickly.
Simplified Dissolution Is Often the Fastest Path
Several states offer a streamlined process sometimes called summary dissolution or simplified divorce, and short marriages are the target audience. Eligibility rules vary, but they typically require a marriage under a set length (often five years or less), no minor children, limited shared assets, limited shared debt, and both spouses waiving spousal support. The paperwork is lighter, court involvement is minimal, and filing fees are sometimes lower.
Not every state offers this option, and the asset and debt thresholds change periodically. Your local court’s self-help website or the clerk’s office can confirm whether you qualify. For couples who do, this is usually the single fastest way to end a short marriage.
Uncontested Divorce If You Don’t Qualify for Simplified
An uncontested divorce means both spouses agree on all the terms: property division, debt allocation, and any support. When both parties sign off, the court has little to decide and can process the case quickly. In states without waiting periods, an uncontested divorce with no children and minimal assets can be finalized in as little as a few weeks.
For couples married less than a year, agreement tends to be easier to reach. You probably haven’t accumulated much joint property or debt, and neither spouse has given up years of career growth to support the household. That simplicity is your biggest advantage. If you can sit down together and decide who keeps what, you skip discovery, skip hearings, and skip the back-and-forth that makes contested divorces expensive and slow.
File on no-fault grounds unless a lawyer in your state tells you otherwise. Every state now allows something like “irreconcilable differences” or “irretrievable breakdown,” which requires no evidence of wrongdoing. Fault-based grounds like adultery or cruelty still exist in many states, but they invite disputes and drag out proceedings. For a marriage under a year, there is rarely a strategic reason to pursue fault unless it affects property division or support in your jurisdiction.
Online and DIY Filing
Many courts accept electronically filed divorce petitions, and several online services will generate your forms for a flat fee, typically between $150 and $500. These work best for uncontested cases with straightforward facts. They don’t replace a lawyer where assets are significant or the case is contested, but for a short marriage where both spouses agree, they can cut legal costs substantially. Your state court’s self-help center often provides free fillable forms and filing instructions as well.
Annulment Is Not a Faster Divorce
Annulment declares a marriage legally invalid from the start, as though it never happened. It sounds appealing for a short marriage, but annulment requires specific grounds that go beyond simply wanting out. Common grounds include fraud (one spouse lied about something fundamental), duress or force, one spouse being already married, mental incapacity at the time of the ceremony, or one spouse being underage without proper consent.
A void marriage, such as one involving close blood relatives or bigamy, is invalid automatically. A voidable marriage looks valid on its surface but can be invalidated by a court if one of the grounds above is proven. Most annulment cases involve voidable marriages, which means you still file a petition, present evidence, and get a judge’s approval.
Annulment can simplify property division because courts often try to return each party to their pre-marriage financial position, and it may matter for religious reasons. But it is not inherently faster than divorce. If the other spouse contests the grounds, an annulment case can take longer than an uncontested divorce. Don’t pursue annulment solely for speed unless you genuinely have qualifying grounds.
Property and Support in a Marriage Under a Year
Courts handling short-term marriages generally try to return each spouse to roughly where they stood financially before the wedding. Property you owned before the marriage typically stays yours. Property acquired during the marriage is subject to division, though in a marriage lasting less than a year, that pool is usually small.
The complication is commingling. If you deposited pre-marriage savings into a joint account and both spouses spent from it, separating “yours” from “ours” gets harder. Clear records help: bank statements, purchase receipts, and account histories from before and during the marriage can be the difference between a quick agreement and a drawn-out dispute. Most states use equitable distribution, meaning the court divides property fairly based on circumstances rather than automatically splitting everything 50/50. A handful of states follow community property rules, which generally split marital assets equally. In either system, the short duration of the marriage keeps the analysis simple.
Long-term alimony is rare when a marriage lasted less than a year. Courts weight the length of the marriage heavily, and a very short marriage usually means neither spouse had time to become financially dependent on the other. Temporary support during the divorce process itself is possible if one spouse has a genuine financial need and the other can afford to pay. When support is awarded after a short marriage, it is almost always rehabilitative, lasting only long enough for the recipient to finish a degree, complete training, or find employment. If both spouses worked throughout and earned similar incomes, support usually isn’t an issue at all.
What It Costs, and How to Keep Costs Down
Court filing fees vary by jurisdiction, typically from around $100 to over $400. Attorney fees depend on complexity, with hourly rates commonly between $150 and $500. For an uncontested short-marriage divorce, some attorneys offer flat-fee packages that cover the entire process for a predictable amount.
Limited-scope representation, sometimes called unbundled legal services, is worth exploring if you’re comfortable handling most of the process yourself but want a lawyer’s help on specific pieces. You might hire an attorney to review your settlement agreement and filing paperwork without retaining them for the whole case. This works particularly well for short marriages with simple finances.
Most courts offer fee waivers for people who can’t afford filing costs, and many have self-help centers with free forms and procedural guidance. Legal aid organizations may also provide low-cost or free help for straightforward divorces. The combination of an uncontested filing, court self-help resources, and limited attorney involvement can bring the total cost of ending a short marriage down to a few hundred dollars.