District of Columbia Online Divorce

Washington DC allows you to complete your divorce without an attorney if you and your spouse can come to an agreement on what to do with your property and how you will care for any children that you may have.

DC Residency Requirements

To file for divorce in the District of Columbia (DC), at least one spouse must have lived in DC continuously for at least six months at the time the divorce is filed.

Grounds For Divorce

To file for no-fault divorce in DC, you must have been separated for at least six (6) months. Spouses are considered to be separated in DC even if they live under the same roof as long as they have separate bedrooms, sleep in separate beds, do not engage in a sexual relationship, and do not engage in activities commonly associated with being a married couple. Below are the no-fault grounds in detail. Only one of the two grounds need to be met:

• Six Month Separation: Both spouses have agreed mutually and voluntarily to separate and have been living apart, without a sexual relationship, for at least six months before the date the divorce is filed; OR
• One Year Separation: The spouses have been living separate and apart, regardless of whether both spouses agreed, without a sexual relationship, for at least one year before the date the divorce is filed.

Filing Your Washington DC Divorce

After completing the online interview, DivorceWriter will send you the divorce forms you prepared online along with detailed DC filing procedures. The basic steps for filing your divorce are as follows:

1. File a Complaint for Absolute Divorce. If the Defendant's Answer to Complaint is filed at the same time as Plaintiff's Complaint, there is no need to formally serve Defendant with divorce papers. If no Answer is filed, Defendant must be served with divorce papers, and then Plaintiff must wait for the 20-day answer period to pass.
2. If Defendant's Answer to the Complaint was filed in Step 1, the spouses will sign a Separation Agreement and related documents. If no Answer was filed, Plaintiff will file documents asking the Court to grant a divorce by default.
3. Plaintiff attends a brief divorce hearing. The Judge will sign and mail a Judgment of Divorce to both spouses. The divorce is not final until 30 days after the Judgment of Divorce is signed unless Defendant's Answer was filed with the Complaint, in which case the parties will also file a Joint Waiver of Appeal waiving the 30-day waiting period and allowing the divorce to be final immediately.

Division of property & debt, child parenting plan (including child support, visitation and custody), spousal support, and more are covered.

DivorceWriter provides forms specific to Washington DC and offers a money back guarantee if your documents are not accepted by the Court.

You qualify to use DivorceWriter™ to complete your District of Columbia divorce papers online as long as your spouse agrees and one of you meets the residency requirement.  Select "Continue" to start the interview.