You and your spouse are at the point where you have made several unsuccessful attempts to repair the marriage. At this point in time, your spouse has moved out and you are seeing your children every other weekend. At this point in time, you are prepared to accept the inevitable…it is time to move forward with a divorce. You have discussed the matter with your spouse, and have made arrangements to meet with a divorce attorney next week.

When this scenario happens to you, make sure that you know up front which court house the divorce will be filed in. If you know which court house the divorce will be filed in, then you will be able to hire a local divorce attorney who practices in that court house on a regular basis. Hiring a local divorce attorney will have two obvious benefits: number one, you are hiring an attorney who is thoroughly familiar with the procedures of that particular court house; and number two, because the attorney’s office is local, you will not have to pay for his driving time.

All that being said, which court house is the correct choice for your divorce? In order to make that determination, you need to answer the following three questions: number one, which state and county do your children live in; number two, which state and county does your spouse live; and number three, which state and county do you live in.

Let’s analyze your children’s living arrangement first. In the typical divorce scenario where you and your spouse have been separated for several weeks or maybe even months, your spouse has moved out and either a) taken the children or b) left the children with you. If your situation is b) then the children are still living with you and the correct court house for the children will be the court house located in the county where you live. If your situation is a) then your spouse has moved out and taken the children. In situation a) the correct court house for the children will be the court house located in the county where your spouse lives.

Let’s analyze your spouse’s living arrangement. As a general rule of thumb, when there are children involved in the divorce, the correct court house is going to be the court house located in the state and county where the children live, but what about scenario’s where you and your spouse do not have children? Which is the correct court house then? In this scenario, you and your spouse have been separated for several weeks and maybe even months, your spouse has moved out and either a) found a place to live in the local community or b) moved to another county. If your situation is a) then your spouse still lives in the same state and county as you and the correct court house is the court house located in the county where you live and the spouse live. If your situation is b) then your spouse has moved to another county. In situation b) so long as your spouse has lived in that other county for at least one month or two, the court house located in that county will a correct court house to file the divorce. Take notice though, it will be a correct court house, not necessarily the correct court house.

Lastly, let’s take a look at your living arrangement. In the typical divorce scenario, you and your spouse have been separated for several weeks and maybe even months. After the split, you stayed put in the state and county where you have lived throughout the marriage. Your spouse however has moved to another county. In this scenario, the court house that is located in the county where you live is a correct court house. However, assuming your spouse has lived in the other county for at least one or two months, the court house located in the county where your spouse lives is also a correct court house. In this scenario, whoever files first, be it you or your spouse, that person will be the winner of the court house sweepstakes. If you do not want to drive all the way to tinbuktu county to litigate your divorce, then you need to file in the court house located in the county where you live before your spouse files in the other court house of the other county.