What forms do you need for uncontested divorce with no kids, no property

Last updated 2026-07-11

What is an uncontested divorce with no kids and no property, exactly?

An uncontested divorce means both spouses agree on every term of the split. No judge decides anything for you. With no minor children, there is no custody schedule, child support order, or parenting plan to draft. With no marital property or debt, there is nothing to divide. That combination is the simplest divorce a court processes.

Lawyers sometimes call this a "simple" or "default" divorce. Courts name it differently by state: a Simplified Dissolution in Florida ^[1], a Summary Dissolution in California ^[2], or just an Uncontested Divorce Petition most everywhere else. The name changes. The basic paperwork stack barely does.

Here is the short version. You file a handful of forms, your spouse signs an agreement, you wait out a mandatory cooling-off period (which runs from zero days in some states to six months in California for residents), and a judge signs a decree. You never sit through a contested hearing. In many counties you never appear in person at all.

What are the core forms you need in almost every state?

Across all 50 states, an uncontested no-kids no-property divorce almost always needs these five documents.

1. Petition for Dissolution of Marriage (or Petition for Divorce) This document starts the case. One spouse files it and becomes the "Petitioner"; the other becomes the "Respondent." It identifies both parties, states the grounds for divorce (nearly every state now accepts "no-fault" grounds such as "irreconcilable differences" or "irretrievable breakdown"), and asks the court for the relief you want, which here is simply to dissolve the marriage. The petition usually runs two to four pages.

2. Summons The Summons tells your spouse a divorce case has been filed. Your spouse already knows and agrees, but the Summons is still required in most states. It is typically a one-page form the court clerk or court website generates. Your spouse usually waives formal service by signing an Acceptance of Service form (see below).

3. Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA) Because you have no kids and no property, your MSA will be brief, often a single page. It confirms both parties agree to dissolve the marriage, that there are no minor children, that neither party has a property claim against the other, and that spousal support is either waived or agreed upon. Both spouses sign it, usually before a notary. This document protects you later. It is the signed record of what you both agreed to.

4. Final Decree (or Judgment) of Divorce This is the court order that ends the marriage. You draft it, the judge signs it. Most courts want a proposed decree submitted along with your petition so the judge can review and sign. It usually runs two to three pages.

5. Proof of Service (or Acceptance/Waiver of Service) Every state requires proof the Respondent was formally notified. In an uncontested divorce, the Respondent signs an Acceptance of Service or Waiver of Service, confirming they got the papers and waive delivery by a process server. That saves you the cost of a sheriff or server.

Some states add a few forms: a Financial Affidavit, a Case Information Sheet, or a Notice of Social Security Numbers (kept confidential by the court). Check your county court's checklist, because local rules add requirements the state form packet does not always reflect. ^[3]

How do state filing fees compare for a simple divorce?

Filing fees are set by each state, sometimes each county, and they change periodically, so treat these as current estimates rather than locked-in amounts. The figures below come from state court websites and were last verified in mid-2025. ^[4][5]

State	Approximate petition filing fee
California	$435 (waiver available)
Florida	$408 (Hillsborough Co.)
Arizona	$338
Texas	$250 to $350 (varies by county)
Illinois	$289 (Cook County)
Nevada	$299
Pennsylvania	$200 to $300
Colorado	$230
North Carolina	$225
Tennessee	$184 to $259
New York	$210
Georgia	$200 to $220
Michigan	$175
Ohio	$150 to $200
Missouri	$133

Almost every state offers a fee waiver if your income falls below a threshold, typically 125 percent of the federal poverty level. The form is usually called an Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis or an Application for Fee Waiver. Ask the clerk's office or check your state court's self-help page. ^[6]

Beyond the petition fee, budget for a notary ($5 to $25 per signature), document copying, and postage or in-person filing. If you use a process server instead of a signed waiver, add $50 to $150.

Where do you actually get the divorce forms?

Start with your state court's official self-help center. Every state has one, and most have both an online portal and a physical office at the courthouse. These are the authoritative sources. The forms there match exactly what your local court accepts. ^[3]

Specific places to look:

• State judicial council website: California's Judicial Council (courts.ca.gov) hosts every family law form as a fillable PDF. Florida's courts do the same at flcourts.gov. Both are free. ^[1][2]
• County clerk's office: Walk in and ask. Clerks cannot give legal advice, but they can hand you the correct form packet for your county and tell you which local cover sheets you need.
• State court self-help centers: Many courthouses have staffed self-help centers where a court facilitator (not your attorney, but a trained legal professional the court employs) reviews your completed forms for free or a small fee before you file. Genuinely useful, and underused.
• Legal aid organizations: If your income qualifies, legal aid can provide free form packets and sometimes free form review.

You can also get a packet from a service like DivorceClear, which assembles state-specific form sets with plain-language instructions for around $149. That helps if you want everything in one place and instructions written in English rather than court legalese. If you are comfortable downloading PDFs and reading court instructions carefully, the state court self-help center gives you the same forms at zero cost.

Do not use outdated forms from random legal websites. Courts revise their forms when statutes change, and an old version gets your case rejected. Pull the form directly from the court, or check that the revision date in the footer matches what the court currently lists.

Does a no-property divorce still need a Marital Settlement Agreement?

Yes. Even if you own nothing together and owe nothing together, courts in nearly every state still require a signed agreement confirming that fact. The MSA (sometimes called a Separation Agreement or a Stipulation and Agreement) is the written record that both spouses confirm no joint property, no joint debt, no alimony, no children.

Without it, a judge has no written basis to sign off on the divorce outside a hearing. The MSA is what makes the divorce truly uncontested from the court's point of view. It is the proof that nothing is left in dispute.

Here is the good news. With no assets and no kids, your MSA is short. A well-drafted one-page agreement covers everything. It should state that both parties waive any claim to the other's separate property, confirm no minor children exist from the marriage, and address alimony (even if both parties waive it, say so in plain words). Leaving alimony unaddressed creates problems later in some states.

If alimony is a real question for your situation, read up on alimony rules in your state before you sign anything that waives it permanently.

What happens after you file the forms?

Filing is not the end. Here is the sequence after you hand your paperwork to the clerk.

First, the clerk assigns a case number and stamps your documents. You pay the filing fee, or submit a fee waiver. Keep copies of everything with the file stamp on them.

Second, your spouse (the Respondent) needs formal notice. In an uncontested case, they sign an Acceptance of Service or Waiver of Service form and you file it with the court. If your spouse won't sign, you need a process server or sheriff.

Third, most states impose a mandatory waiting period. California requires six months from the date the Respondent is served. Texas requires 60 days from filing. Florida requires 20 days. New York has no mandatory waiting period, but the administrative process usually takes 60 to 90 days. ^[2][4] These minimums hold regardless of how agreeable both parties are.

Fourth, you submit for a final review, or the court schedules a hearing or default judgment review. In many counties, for uncontested divorces with no kids and no property, that is a brief in-person hearing of five to ten minutes. In some jurisdictions there is no hearing at all. The judge reviews the papers and signs the decree.

Fifth, the clerk mails or makes available the signed Final Decree. That document is your proof the marriage is legally over. Order certified copies right away. They cost $5 to $25 per copy depending on the county, and you need them to change your name on a driver's license, Social Security record, or passport.

Are there any forms you probably do NOT need for this type of divorce?

With no kids and no property, you can confidently skip a large stack of forms that apply in more complicated divorces.

You do not need:

• Any child custody, parenting plan, or visitation order forms
• A Child Support Worksheet or Income Shares calculation
• A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO), which is only for dividing retirement accounts
• A deed transfer for real property
• Any debt assumption agreements
• A business valuation affidavit
• A Guardian ad Litem appointment form

You also probably don't need a full Financial Disclosure or Financial Affidavit, though some states require a short-form financial statement even in simple cases. California's FL-150 Income and Expense Declaration, for example, is required in some circumstances even when there is nothing to divide. The California Judicial Council's instructions spell out when it is and isn't mandatory. ^[2]

When in doubt about whether a form is required, the county clerk is your first call. They cannot tell you what to put on a form, but they can tell you whether you need to file it.

How long does the whole process take?

For a no-kids no-property uncontested divorce, the paperwork itself takes most people two to four hours if they have the right forms and instructions. Downloading, filling out, and notarizing is the easy part.

The clock that matters is the mandatory waiting period plus court processing time. Here is the honest range:

• Fastest states (no mandatory waiting period, streamlined review): Some states, including Missouri, can finalize an uncontested divorce in 30 to 45 days from filing if the court calendar is clear.
• Middle range: Most states land between 60 and 120 days total. Texas's 60-day mandatory wait is a hard floor. Florida runs 90 to 120 days in practice because processing takes longer than the 20-day minimum.
• Slowest: California's six-month period from service means you cannot be divorced in less than roughly 185 days even if the paperwork is perfect. ^[2]

Court backlogs add time on top of the mandatory periods. Urban counties in large states often run two to three months behind on uncontested case reviews. Filing early in the week and in the morning, and submitting complete paperwork the first time, cuts the back-and-forth.

Can you do this without a divorce lawyer?

For an uncontested divorce with no kids and no property, a lawyer is genuinely optional. This is one of the narrowest situations where self-representation carries little risk. There is no custody arrangement that could harm a child if written badly. There is no asset division that could leave you shortchanged. The only real document question is whether the MSA's alimony waiver language holds up under your state's statute.

Even so, a one-time consultation with a divorce attorney to review your MSA before you sign runs roughly $150 to $300, and it is not a bad use of money if any ambiguity exists about support rights. Some bar associations run lawyer referral services that offer a free or reduced-cost first consultation. ^[7]

If you are representing yourself, your state court's self-help center is the closest thing to free professional guidance you will find. Many are staffed by court facilitators or self-help attorneys who review your completed forms and flag errors. That is not legal advice, but it catches the common filing mistakes that cause rejections.

Self-representation in family court is common. The National Center for State Courts, in its report The Landscape of Civil Litigation in State Courts, found that at least one party was self-represented in roughly three of every four family law cases in the states it studied. ^[8] You would be in very large company.

What if your spouse won't sign or won't respond?

An uncontested divorce needs the Respondent's cooperation. If your spouse will not sign the MSA or the Acceptance of Service, the divorce is no longer uncontested.

If your spouse simply does not respond within the deadline (typically 20 to 30 days after formal service, depending on the state), you can file for a Default Divorce. You file a Request for Default or similar form, declare the deadline passed with no response, and ask the court to grant the divorce based on your petition alone. Courts generally grant defaults in no-kids no-property cases without a hearing.

If your spouse actively contests the divorce (objects to it, claims there is property you have not disclosed, or wants alimony), the case converts to a contested divorce. The paperwork becomes much heavier, and hiring a divorce lawyer becomes a much more serious consideration.

One piece of practical advice. Have a direct conversation with your spouse before filing. Make sure they understand what they are signing and agree to it. Most uncontested divorces that turn contested do so because one party was surprised by something in the papers.

Do you need to change your name and what forms does that require?

You do not have to change your name in a divorce, but if you want to restore a former name, the divorce is the cheapest and cleanest time to do it. The name change goes into the Final Decree of Divorce at no extra court cost in most states.

To include it, add a paragraph to your proposed Final Decree specifically requesting restoration of your former legal name. Most state decree templates have a checkbox or optional paragraph for this. The judge signs it along with everything else.

After the decree is signed, take certified copies to:

• Social Security Administration (Form SS-5, free) ^[9]
• Your state DMV (small fee, varies by state)
• Your passport agency if you travel internationally (Form DS-5504 if within one year of issuance; otherwise DS-82 or DS-11, fees apply) ^[10]

Banks, employers, and insurers also need updated documents, but Social Security and your state ID come first. Other agencies rely on those as proof.

If you did not include a name change in the decree and want one later, most states allow a separate petition for name change. That means a new filing fee and hearing.

What does a complete simple divorce form packet actually look like?

To make this concrete, here is what a typical complete filing looks like for a no-kids no-property uncontested divorce. The exact form names vary by state, but each document's function stays consistent.

Document	Who files it	When
Petition for Dissolution of Marriage	Petitioner	Day 1, with filing fee
Summons	Petitioner (clerk may issue)	Day 1, with petition
Acceptance/Waiver of Service	Respondent signs, Petitioner files	After Petitioner files, before deadline
Marital Settlement Agreement	Both spouses sign, notarized	Before or shortly after filing
Proposed Final Decree of Divorce	Petitioner prepares, judge signs	Submitted with packet or before hearing
Fee Waiver Application (if applicable)	Petitioner	Day 1, with petition
Notice of Social Security Numbers (some states)	Petitioner	Day 1

If you want a document packet assembled for your specific state with plain-language instructions, DivorceClear's $149 packet covers this exact scenario and is built around current state form sets. That is one option. The free option is your state court's self-help center paired with the judicial council's form PDFs.

Either way, the goal is the same. A clean, complete filing that moves through the court once, without a rejection for missing or outdated documents.

Frequently asked questions

Can I file for divorce online without going to the courthouse?

It depends on your state. Several states now allow e-filing for family law cases, including California, Texas, Florida, and Illinois. In those states, you upload completed forms through the court's e-filing portal and pay online. Some counties still require in-person filing for uncontested divorces. Check your specific county court clerk's website for e-filing availability before assuming you can skip the courthouse entirely.

Does the Marital Settlement Agreement need to be notarized?

In most states, yes. The MSA typically requires both spouses to sign before a notary public. A few states accept signatures witnessed by two adults who are not parties to the divorce, but notarization is the norm and the safest approach. Your county clerk can confirm the signature requirement for your jurisdiction. Notary services are available at most banks, UPS Stores, and library branches for $5 to $25 per signature.

What if we have a joint bank account but nothing else?

A joint bank account is marital property. If you and your spouse share any bank account, investment account, or debt, you technically have property to address, even if the balance is small. Your MSA needs a clause specifying who gets the account or that both parties agree to close it and split the proceeds. Leaving a joint account unaddressed in the decree causes legal headaches later, because neither party's ownership is settled.

How much does a DIY uncontested divorce cost total?

Expect $100 to $500 in total out-of-pocket costs for a self-filed no-kids no-property divorce. Court filing fees are the biggest line item at $80 to $435 depending on the state. Add $10 to $50 for notary fees, $10 to $30 for certified copies of the final decree, and possibly $50 to $150 for a process server if your spouse won't sign a waiver. Fee waivers are available in every state for low-income filers.

Do both spouses have to file together, or does one file alone?

One spouse files as the Petitioner and the other responds as the Respondent. In most states, only the Petitioner submits the initial paperwork and pays the filing fee. Some states, like Florida, allow a Joint Petition for Simplified Dissolution where both spouses file together and share the fee. Check whether your state offers a joint filing option. It is faster and eliminates the service and waiver step.

What is a default divorce and when would I use it?

A default divorce happens when the Respondent does not respond to the petition within the deadline, typically 20 to 30 days after service. The Petitioner files a Request for Default, and the judge can grant the divorce based solely on the Petitioner's filing. For a no-kids no-property case, courts routinely grant defaults without a hearing. It is not ideal (an MSA signed by both parties is cleaner) but it works when a spouse is uncooperative or unreachable.

Will I need to appear in court for an uncontested divorce?

Often no, for a truly simple case. Many states and counties process uncontested no-kids no-property divorces entirely on the papers, with no hearing required. Where a hearing is required, it is typically a short five to fifteen minute appearance in which the judge confirms your identity, verifies you understand the agreement, and signs the decree. Call your county clerk to ask whether an appearance is required for uncontested cases in your jurisdiction.

Can I get divorced if I don't know where my spouse is?

Yes, but it takes extra steps. If you cannot locate your spouse after a good-faith search, most states allow service by publication, placing a legal notice in an approved newspaper for a set period, typically four to six weeks. You also file an affidavit documenting your search efforts. After the publication period expires without a response, you proceed as a default divorce. This adds cost ($50 to $300 for publication) and time but keeps the case moving.

How do I get a certified copy of my final divorce decree?

After the judge signs your final decree, the court clerk files it and makes copies available. Request certified copies from the clerk's office, typically $5 to $25 per copy depending on the county. Order at least three: one to keep, one for Social Security if you are changing your name, and one as a spare. Electronic certified copies are now available in some jurisdictions for a slightly lower fee.

Do I need to mention alimony in the forms even if neither of us wants it?

Yes. Courts want an explicit waiver, not silence. Your Marital Settlement Agreement should include a clause stating that both parties waive any claim to spousal support or alimony from the other, now and in the future. Leaving alimony unaddressed leaves the door open for a future claim in some states. A clean, explicit waiver in the MSA closes that door. It is one sentence and prevents real problems later.

What residency requirements do I need to meet before filing?

Every state has a residency requirement you must satisfy before filing. Common thresholds: California requires six months in the state and three months in the county. Texas requires six months in the state and 90 days in the county. Florida requires six months in the state. New York offers several options, including two years of residency, or one year if the marriage was performed or lived in New York. Check your state court's self-help page for the specific requirement, and file in the county where you currently live.

Are the divorce forms different if I want to restore my maiden name?

Not substantially. You use the same core forms. You simply add a name-change request to your Petition and include specific language in your proposed Final Decree asking the court to restore your former legal name. Most state decree templates have an optional section for this. There is no separate fee in most states. After the decree is signed, take a certified copy to the Social Security Administration and your DMV to update your records.

What happens if we have a car in both names but agree one person keeps it?

A jointly titled vehicle is marital property, so your MSA needs to address it, even if it is the only asset you have. Include a clause specifying that one named spouse is awarded the vehicle (by year, make, and VIN) and that the other spouse will sign a release of interest or a title transfer document. Some states require that agreement to be submitted to the DMV separately. A jointly titled car left out of the decree leaves the title legally cloudy.

Sources

1. Florida Courts, Simplified Dissolution of Marriage self-help page: Florida offers a Simplified Dissolution process for qualifying couples; filing fee in Hillsborough County is approximately $408
2. California Courts (courts.ca.gov), Divorce or Legal Separation overview: California requires a six-month waiting period from the date the Respondent is served; Summary Dissolution is available for qualifying couples; FL-150 financial disclosure requirements are detailed on the Judicial Council site
3. National Center for State Courts, Self-Help Center resource directory: Every state has a court self-help center; local rules can add form requirements beyond the state packet
4. Texas Courts, Texas Family Code Section 6.702 (60-day waiting period): Texas imposes a mandatory 60-day waiting period from the date of filing before a divorce can be granted; filing fees vary by county from approximately $250 to $350
5. New York Courts (nycourts.gov), Uncontested Divorce Packet and fee schedule: New York's filing fee for an uncontested divorce is $210; the state has no mandatory waiting period
6. U.S. Courts, In Forma Pauperis, fee waiver guidance: Fee waivers for in forma pauperis status are available when income falls below thresholds typically set at 125 percent of the federal poverty level
7. American Bar Association, Lawyer Referral Services directory: Many state and local bar associations offer reduced-cost or free initial consultations through lawyer referral services
8. National Center for State Courts, The Landscape of Civil Litigation in State Courts: At least one party was self-represented in roughly three of four family law cases in states studied by the National Center for State Courts
9. Social Security Administration, Change of Name (Form SS-5): After a court-ordered name change in a divorce decree, individuals update their Social Security record using Form SS-5 at no cost
10. U.S. Department of State, Passport name change instructions (Forms DS-5504, DS-82, DS-11): After a divorce decree restoring a former name, the appropriate passport form depends on when the passport was issued, DS-5504 within one year of issuance, DS-82 or DS-11 otherwise
11. Illinois Courts, Cook County Circuit Court filing fee schedule: Cook County, Illinois filing fee for a divorce petition is approximately $289
12. Arizona Courts (azcourts.gov), Self-Service Center divorce forms and filing fee: Arizona's filing fee for a petition for dissolution of marriage is approximately $338