What Is a Covenant Marriage? Requirements, Grounds, and Divorce

A covenant marriage is a special type of marriage license, offered only in Louisiana, Arizona, and Arkansas, that requires premarital counseling and sharply limits the grounds on which the marriage can later be dissolved. Couples who choose it agree upfront that if problems come up, they will seek counseling, and that ending the marriage will require either proving serious fault or living apart for an extended period. During the marriage itself, the legal rights and responsibilities are identical to any other marriage. The difference shows up at the exit.

Where Covenant Marriage Is Available

Only three states offer it. Louisiana passed the first covenant marriage law in 1997, Arizona followed in 1998, and Arkansas in 2001. No state has added the option since. If you do not live in one of those three states, a covenant marriage is not available to you.

Couples who already hold a covenant marriage from one of these states remain bound by its terms if they move elsewhere, though as discussed below, enforcing those terms across state lines is not straightforward. Even within the three states, covenant marriage has stayed rare. Fewer than five percent of marrying couples choose it over a standard license.

How You Enter a Covenant Marriage

All three states follow the same basic path: premarital counseling, a signed declaration, and a counselor’s sworn statement filed with the marriage license.

Premarital Counseling

Both partners complete counseling before applying for the license. The sessions cover the seriousness of the commitment, the expectation that the marriage is lifelong, the obligation to seek counseling later if problems come up, and the limited grounds for divorce. A member of the clergy or a licensed professional counselor, therapist, or psychologist can provide it.¹ Arkansas also permits a “marriage educator” approved by the officiant.² Sessions typically run $100 to $250 each, though clergy often provide them at no charge.

Declaration of Intent

After counseling, both partners sign a Declaration of Intent. The document states that they understand the marriage is a lifelong commitment, that they have disclosed anything that could affect the decision to marry, and that they agree to seek counseling if difficulties arise later.¹ Arizona uses similar language in a statement signed directly on the marriage license application.³

Counselor’s Attestation

The counselor who conducted the sessions signs a notarized affidavit confirming that counseling took place, that the couple understands what a covenant marriage entails, and that each person received the state’s informational pamphlet.³ The declaration and the attestation are both filed alongside the marriage license application.

Converting an Existing Marriage

Couples who are already married can convert a standard marriage into a covenant marriage without a new license or ceremony. The process depends on the state.

In Louisiana, both spouses complete counseling, then sign a new Declaration of Intent and Affidavit with Attestation and file them with the official who issued the original marriage license. Couples who married outside Louisiana file in the parish where they live.¹

Arizona does not require counseling for a conversion. The couple pays a fee to the Clerk of the Superior Court, submits a written declaration in the covenant marriage format, and provides a sworn statement listing both spouses’ names, Social Security numbers, and the date and place of the original ceremony. The Clerk issues a certificate confirming the conversion.⁴ A conversion cannot be used to retroactively legalize a marriage that was invalid or prohibited under state law.

How It Differs from a Standard Marriage

During the marriage, the two look identical. Same rights, same tax treatment, same responsibilities. The differences live entirely at divorce.

A standard marriage in every state can end through no-fault divorce. One spouse files, says the marriage is irretrievably broken, and the court grants it without anyone proving wrongdoing. Covenant marriage removes that option. A spouse seeking divorce must prove specific fault or wait out a lengthy separation, and must typically attend marital counseling before filing.⁵

That counseling obligation is where most couples first notice the difference. If a covenant marriage runs into trouble, you are legally required to make reasonable efforts to work through it, including professional counseling, before a court will entertain a divorce petition. A standard marriage carries no such requirement.

Grounds for Ending a Covenant Marriage

Every covenant marriage state requires the filing spouse to prove at least one recognized ground. The core idea is the same across the three: you cannot simply tell the court the marriage is not working. You have to show that something serious happened, or that you have been apart long enough that the marriage is clearly over.

Fault-Based Grounds

All three states recognize adultery, a felony conviction resulting in imprisonment, and physical or sexual abuse of a spouse or child as grounds for divorce.⁶⁷ Beyond that common core, the states diverge:

Arizona allows divorce when a spouse has abandoned the home for at least one year and refuses to return.⁶
Arizona recognizes habitual drug or alcohol abuse as a standalone divorce ground. Arkansas treats habitual drunkenness as a ground for legal separation, not direct divorce.
Arizona is the only one of the three where both spouses can agree to dissolve the marriage without proving fault or waiting through a separation period.⁶

Separation-Based Grounds

When no fault ground applies, the alternative is living separate and apart. All three states set the baseline at two years of continuous separation without reconciliation.⁷⁸ Two years is a long time to sit in legal limbo, and this is the feature of covenant marriage that catches couples most off guard. A brief reconciliation that includes moving back in together resets the clock.

If a couple has already obtained a judgment of legal separation, the subsequent waiting period for divorce is shorter. Arizona requires one year from the separation decree.⁶ Louisiana requires one year, extending to a year and six months if minor children are involved.⁷ Arkansas requires two years, or two years and six months when there are minor children.⁸

Legal Separation as a Separate Path

Legal separation and divorce are different legal actions, and in a covenant marriage the grounds for each can differ. A legal separation does not end the marriage. It sets court orders for property, custody, and support while the spouses live apart, and it can serve as a step toward eventual divorce under the shorter post-separation waiting periods above.

Arkansas shows the distinction clearly. To get a divorce, you must prove adultery, a felony, physical or sexual abuse, or two years of separation. To get a judicial separation, the list is broader and includes habitual drunkenness for one year, cruel treatment that endangers your life, and general indignities that make the marriage intolerable. Those broader grounds can open the door to a separation judgment even when divorce grounds are not yet met, which starts the clock running toward a future divorce.⁸

What Happens If You Move to Another State

This is where covenant marriage gets genuinely complicated, and it is the question most couples overlook when they sign the Declaration of Intent.

Every state recognizes marriages validly performed in other states, so a covenant marriage does not become invalid when you cross a state line. The real question is what law a court will apply if one of you later files for divorce. Courts generally apply their own state’s divorce rules, not the rules of the state where the marriage was performed. In one Alabama case, the Court of Civil Appeals held that an Alabama court was not obligated to enforce a Louisiana covenant marriage contract and could grant a divorce under Alabama’s standard no-fault grounds.

In practical terms, a spouse in a covenant marriage who moves to a no-fault state may be able to end it far more easily than the original covenant terms contemplated. The reverse matters just as much. If you are the spouse who valued the covenant’s protections, relocation can quietly undo them. The law here is unsettled, and outcomes vary by state, judge, and the arguments raised. Anyone in a covenant marriage who has moved, or is thinking about moving, should talk to a family lawyer in the new state before assuming the covenant terms still fully apply.

What to Weigh Before Choosing One

Covenant marriage appeals to couples with strong religious convictions or a shared belief that making divorce harder will strengthen the commitment. Before signing a Declaration of Intent, a few realities deserve attention.

The two-year separation requirement means that if you need to leave a marriage for reasons that do not qualify as fault grounds, you may spend years unable to remarry or fully untangle your finances. Required counseling adds time and cost to an already hard process. And if one spouse is controlling or emotionally abusive in ways that fall short of the physical abuse threshold recognized in some of these states, the limited divorce grounds can become a tool for keeping the other spouse in the marriage longer than they otherwise would be.

Arizona’s mutual-consent ground is a meaningful safety valve that Louisiana and Arkansas lack. If both spouses eventually agree the marriage should end, Arizona lets them act on that without a waiting period. In the other two, even an amicable split still requires proving fault or waiting out the full separation.

1
Louisiana Department of Health. Covenant Marriage
2
Garland County, AR. Covenant
3
AZ Court Help. Covenant Marriage Information
4
Mohave Courts. Instructions: Convert Marriage to a Covenant Marriage
5
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code Article 103
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 25-903 – Dissolution of a Covenant Marriage; Grounds
7
Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 9 RS 9-307 – Divorce or Separation
8
FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 9 Family Law 9-11-808 – Divorce or Separation