Wyoming Divorce Laws

Wyoming Divorce

There was a time when getting a divorce was a lot harder to come by. Certainly a lot harder than it was to get married. One of the first states to grant a quick divorce was Nevada. You only had to live there for six weeks to be considered a resident. After that you could file for divorce and go back to your life.

Today, nearly every state has lowered the restrictions making divorce more assessable but that doesn’t mean they are always trouble free. Wyoming state divorce laws begin with the question of residency. In Wyoming, a resident is considered anyone who has lived in the states for at least 60 days. After sixty days, you can file for divorce in the county where you live. The rest of the Wyoming divorce laws are streamlined and easy to understand.

Legal Grounds for Divorce in Wyoming

There are two essential legal grounds for divorce in the state of Wyoming. They are irreconcilable differences or if either spouse has been deemed insane. With irreconcilable differences, both the husband and wife are admitting that the marriage has broken down and simply can’t be fixed. Each spouse takes an equal amount of blame and they agree that no amount of counseling or therapy is going to help. When both parties agree to a no-fault divorce, the pathway to a settlement is the quickest.

Property Distribution in Wyoming

With the break-up of any marriage there is the inevitable distribution of all the property acquired during the marriage, no matter how brief it might have been. Wyoming has designated itself as an equal distribution state. This means that if there is a dispute about who should get what then the court will exert their best judgment to decide the matter.

A divorce court judge in Wyoming can take into account how one side might be impacted if the other side were to gain property. For instance, if the wife will be maintaining custody of children, she might be awarded the family home. If no children are present, the home might be ordered to be put up for sale and the proceeds split evenly.

Alimony can be ordered to be paid to either side in the divorce. The amount is based on the earning potential of the spouse who will be paying.

Child Custody Laws in Wyoming

When the issue of child custody comes into play in a Wyoming divorce, the court will always strive to take the best interests of the children into account. This will mean looking at the relationship between the parent and the child, how each parent can provide for the children and the willingness of the parent to take on that sole responsibility. They’ll also look at the distance between the two potential family homes and the physical ability of a parent to take and maintain custody.

For child support, the court will consider the age of the children, what is costs to care for them including any special health concerns and if a parent is currently paying for child support for any children outside the marriage. They’ll also look at additional costs like providing for health insurance, special education and the expenses involved in visiting.