Indiana Divorce - The Residency Requirement

For an Indiana divorce, you must be a resident of Indiana for 6 months and of the county for 3 months. That is the county where the case is filed. What does resident mean?

Residence equals domicile and domicile "has been defined as the „place where a person has his true, fixed, permanent home and principal establishment, and to which place he has, whenever he is absent, the intention of returning.‟” Skiles v. Skiles, 646 N.E.2d 353, 355 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995) (quoting Person v. Person, 563 N.E.2d 161, 163 (Ind. Ct. App. 1990), trans. denied), trans. denied."

What if you have not lived long enough in either the State or County? My advice is to wait. While the court will not actively investigate your residency, the opposing party may raise an objection. That objection can stop the proceedings (see Kondamuri v. Kondamuri, 799 N.E.2d 1153, 1158 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003). So what have you gained? Nothing but maybe some trouble. Remember the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage stated your residence and was signed under the penalties for perjury.

Remember, if you want more information about retaining me for a case, please give me a call at 765-641-7906.