By Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce · Published · Updated
If the grounds happened in Maryland you need only live here when you file. Mutual consent with a full agreement needs no wait; the separation ground needs 6 months apart. No legal separation status.
Maryland divorce law has its own vocabulary and its own paperwork — equitable distribution instead of a 50/50 split, 'absolute divorce' instead of 'divorce,' and a marital property statement most contested cases eventually have to file.
| Residency requirement | If the grounds for divorce happened in Maryland, you just need to currently live in Maryland when you file. If the grounds happened outside Maryland, you or your spouse must have lived in Maryland for at least 6 months before filing. |
|---|---|
| Grounds | Since a 2023 law change, Maryland has three grounds for absolute divorce (Family Law §7-103): mutual consent (signed settlement agreement, no waiting period), 6-month separation, or irreconcilable differences. |
| Waiting period | None if filing on mutual consent with a full written settlement agreement. The separation ground requires 6 months living separate and apart (can be in the same home under limited conditions) before filing. |
| Legal separation | Maryland does not recognize legal separation. There is no status to file for. Couples live apart and use a written separation agreement to settle support, property and parenting in the meantime. |
| If you were never married | Maryland does not create common-law marriage, and living together gives neither partner property or support rights. Claims rest on agreements between you. A common-law marriage validly formed in a state that does create them is generally still recognised. |
| Where you file | Circuit Court (Family/Domestic Relations Division) in the county where you or your spouse lives, or where your spouse works. |
| Filing fee | Payable when you file your opening divorce document. Set by regulation and revised from time to time. A fee waiver is available if you cannot afford it. Filing fees are set by the court and change without notice: check the current schedule on the court's own website before you file, and ask about a fee waiver if the cost is a barrier. |
| Starting forms | Complaint for Absolute Divorce (CC-DR-020, simplified version available for uncontested cases), Civil Domestic Case Information Report (CC-DCM-001), and a Financial Statement (CC-DR-030 or CC-DR-031) if child support or alimony is requested. |
| Simplified option | Yes — the mutual consent ground lets couples who agree on property, support, and custody file an uncontested divorce with no separation period, often without a full trial. |
Keeping track of dates like these across a stack of letters is exactly what SortMyDivorce does — start a free trial, no card needed.
Maryland calls a full divorce an 'absolute divorce' and still recognizes a separate, older option called a 'limited divorce' — a court order for temporary relief (support, use of the home, custody) while spouses live apart but remain legally married. Since October 2023, Maryland has offered a mutual consent ground: if both spouses sign a written settlement agreement resolving property, alimony, and any custody and child support issues, and either have no minor children or a resolved parenting plan, the court can grant a divorce without a separation period. Without mutual consent, the main no-fault path is living separate and apart for six months with the intent to remain separated; the 2023 reform removed fault grounds from absolute divorce altogether — adultery and desertion are no longer grounds, and the three that remain are mutual consent, six months' separation and irreconcilable differences.
On property, Maryland is an equitable distribution state, not a community property state. That means marital property — generally what either spouse acquired during the marriage, regardless of whose name is on it — is divided fairly, which is not automatically equally. Property owned before the marriage, gifts, and inheritances from someone other than your spouse are typically treated as non-marital, as long as they weren't mixed into joint accounts or joint title in a way that erases the paper trail.
One Maryland quirk worth knowing early: judges generally can't just retitle real estate or transfer a title from one spouse to the other as part of the property division. Instead, courts commonly use a 'monetary award' — a payment that adjusts the overall equities — alongside tools like a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) to divide retirement accounts. That mechanic shapes how settlement offers are usually structured, so it's worth understanding before you read one.
Divorce cases in Maryland are filed in the Circuit Court for the county where you or your spouse lives; several counties, including Montgomery and Baltimore City, route family cases through a dedicated Family Division. Residency rules generally require that if the grounds for divorce arose outside Maryland, at least one spouse must have lived in the state for six months before filing; if the grounds arose in Maryland, there's typically no separate minimum residency period beyond being domiciled there. A local family lawyer or the circuit court's self-help center can confirm which applies to your situation.
When property is contested, Maryland courts commonly require a joint statement of marital and non-marital property (tied to Maryland Rule 9-207) before certain hearings. It's a structured, line-by-item accounting of what each spouse says is marital, non-marital, or disputed, along with values. Even in cases that settle before it's formally required, drafting one early — honestly and completely — tends to clarify where the real disagreements are, and where they aren't.
Start pulling together bank, retirement, and brokerage statements for every account either spouse holds; recent pay stubs and a couple of years of tax returns; mortgage and property tax records for any real estate; and statements for shared debts like credit cards and loans. If you're claiming something as non-marital — an inheritance, premarital savings, a gift — collect the paper trail that traces it from its source to where it sits today, since that tracing is often what determines how Maryland courts treat it.
If children are involved, Maryland child support follows state guidelines based primarily on both parents' incomes and the parenting schedule, so income documentation matters on both sides. Keep a simple, dated log of parenting time as it actually happens, not just what a schedule says — it becomes useful if custody or support is contested later.
Maryland is one of the states where legal separation simply does not exist. There is no petition to file and no decree to obtain, so couples who want to live apart without divorcing do so informally.
The tool that does the work is a separation agreement: a private written contract setting out who pays what, who lives where and how parenting works while you are apart. It is not a court order, but it is binding between you, and it is what a court will generally look to later.
Living apart is not the same as being divided. Until a divorce is finalised you are still married, with whatever that means for property and debt in this state — worth confirming with a local family lawyer before assuming that moving out has drawn a line.
Maryland does not create common-law marriage. There is no number of years of living together that turns into a marriage here, and none of the divorce machinery on this page applies to a couple who never married — no property division, no spousal support, no residency requirement to satisfy, because there is nothing to dissolve.
What unmarried partners have instead are ordinary civil claims: whatever you agreed between yourselves, in writing or by clear conduct, and claims over property you actually hold jointly. These are argued like any other contract or property dispute rather than as family-law entitlements, and they turn on what can be proved.
One qualification runs the other way and matters. A common-law marriage validly formed in a state that does create them — Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas or Utah — is generally recognised elsewhere. A couple who met that state's test while living there, and later moved here, are married, and separating means divorcing. Children are unaffected either way: custody and child support are decided on the same basis whether or not the parents married.
1) Get clear on which path fits: mutual consent if you and your spouse can agree on the big pieces, or the six-month separation ground if you can't yet. 2) Assemble your financial documents and start a rough draft of your own marital property statement, even before anyone requires one. 3) If real property or retirement accounts are involved, ask a local attorney early about how a monetary award or QDRO would actually work in your case — this is a Maryland-specific mechanic that surprises a lot of people. 4) Confirm your residency situation against your county's circuit court requirements before filing. 5) From the first letter you receive — whether from a spouse's attorney, a mediator, or the court — track every date and every position stated, since Maryland's settlement-driven mutual consent process runs on exactly that kind of record.
On Form CC-DR-020 you must check a box confirming residency — either that you currently live in Maryland (if the grounds arose here) or that you or your spouse have lived in Maryland at least 6 months (if the grounds arose elsewhere).
Maryland recognizes only three grounds under Family Law §7-103: mutual consent, 6-month separation, or irreconcilable differences. Mutual consent is fastest if you and your spouse can agree on a full written settlement covering property and any children.
Fill out Form CC-DR-020 — use the simplified version if your case is uncontested. This is the document that formally opens your case with the circuit court.
File a Civil Domestic Case Information Report (CC-DCM-001) with your complaint, plus a Financial Statement (short form CC-DR-030 or long form CC-DR-031) if you're asking for child support or alimony.
Submit your complaint and forms to the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where you or your spouse lives (or where your spouse works), and pay the filing fee — confirm the current amount with the clerk, or ask about a fee waiver if you qualify.
Your spouse must be formally served with the filed complaint — by sheriff, private process server, or certified mail with restricted delivery — and you must file proof of service with the court.
Your spouse generally has 30 days to respond if served in Maryland, 60 days if served elsewhere in the U.S., or 90 days if served abroad.
For a mutual consent case, file your signed settlement agreement; the court reviews it (and, for cases involving children, confirms the terms are in their best interest) before entering the divorce.
Contested cases proceed through scheduling, possible discovery, and a trial before a circuit court judge; uncontested cases may qualify for a shorter or waived hearing. The judge's signed Judgment of Absolute Divorce finalizes the divorce.
Not automatically. Maryland is an equitable distribution state, so courts divide marital property fairly based on the circumstances, which can mean an even split or something else. Confirm specifics with a local family lawyer.
Since October 2023, Maryland's mutual consent ground allows a divorce without waiting if both spouses sign a written settlement agreement resolving property, alimony, and any custody and support matters. Otherwise, the common no-fault path requires living separately for six months.
It's a court-associated form, tied to Maryland Rule 9-207, listing each spouse's property as marital, non-marital, or disputed, with values. Contested property cases commonly need to file one before certain hearings — check with the specific circuit court.
No. Maryland law does not provide for legal separation, so there is no court status to apply for. Spouses who want to live apart without divorcing generally sign a separation agreement, which is a contract between them rather than a court order. It can cover support, the family home and parenting. Until a divorce is finalised you remain married, so confirm what that means for property in your situation before relying on living apart.
No. Maryland does not create common-law marriage, and living together for any length of time gives neither partner property division nor spousal support. Unmarried partners rely instead on agreements between themselves and on claims over jointly held property, argued as ordinary civil matters. One important exception: a common-law marriage validly formed in a state that does create them — such as Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas or Utah — is generally recognised here, so that couple would need a divorce. Custody and child support apply regardless of marriage.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. There is no statewide crisis line here that we could verify, so use the national one: contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788 if a call is not safe. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988.
Last reviewed August 2026. Researched and written by Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice — laws, fees and forms change, so please confirm current details with the official sources above or a local family lawyer.
Upload your lawyer letters and SortMyDivorce sorts every deadline, offer and issue into one calm dashboard, automatically.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Laws change and differ by jurisdiction — confirm specifics with a local family lawyer or your court's official website. If you use SortMyDivorce, your letters stay confidential — never shared, never sold.