Virginia · Maryland · DC · New Jersey · New York
Divorce law is state law, and the five states this firm practices in do not agree with each other — on grounds, on timing, or on what a court will divide. Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., founded 1997.
Section 01
Most divorce information online describes a single process and implies it applies everywhere. It does not, and the differences are not cosmetic.
Whether you need a separation period before filing, whether fault grounds still exist, how long the whole thing takes, and what a court can consider when dividing property — each of those answers changes at a state line. Two people in materially identical marriages, one in Virginia and one in the District of Columbia, are on different legal timelines from the day they decide to separate.
So the first useful question is not “how does divorce work.” It is “how does divorce work here.” The section below answers that for each of the five jurisdictions this firm practices in.
Section 02
Advice that is correct in Virginia can be wrong in Maryland and obsolete in the District. If you are reading general divorce content online, check when it was written and which state it describes.
VA
Virginia
Virginia retains both no-fault and fault-based grounds. No-fault requires a period of living separate and apart before filing, and that period is shorter where the parties have no minor children and have executed a separation agreement. Fault grounds — including adultery, cruelty, and desertion — remain available in Virginia, and pleading one can affect spousal support and, in some circumstances, the equitable distribution analysis.
Whether pursuing fault is worth what it costs is a strategic question rather than a moral one, and it is worth asking early.
MD
Maryland
Maryland restructured its divorce grounds and no longer recognizes the fault grounds it once did. The current framework provides a small set of grounds, two of which require no separation period at all — mutual consent, where the parties have a signed settlement agreement resolving their issues, and irreconcilable differences. Maryland also no longer offers a limited divorce action at all.
Divorce information written before that restructuring is still widely circulating and is no longer accurate.
DC
District of Columbia
The District made the largest change of the five. Since January 2024, DC has a single ground for divorce. There is no separation requirement and there are no fault grounds. If you have read that you must live separate and apart for six months or a year before filing in DC, you have read something that describes the law as it was, not as it is.
This is the single most common piece of outdated divorce information about the District.
NJ
New Jersey
New Jersey provides both no-fault and fault-based grounds. There are two no-fault routes: irreconcilable differences over a defined period, and living separate and apart for a longer defined period. Fault grounds remain on the books and are pleaded in some matters.
The practical consequence of pleading fault in New Jersey is narrower than many people expect and is worth discussing before it is chosen.
NY
New York
New York provides an irretrievable-breakdown no-fault ground alongside its older fault grounds. A distinctive feature of New York practice is that a no-fault divorce cannot be finalized until the economic issues and any custody issues are resolved — by agreement or by the court.
The ground is the easy part; the resolution is the case.
Section 03
Where the parties agree on everything, the work is drafting and filing: a settlement agreement that actually resolves the issues, and paperwork the court will accept the first time. Agreement is not the same as a completed agreement, and the gap between them is where uncontested divorces stall.
Where the parties do not agree, the case is built through discovery and either resolved by negotiation or tried. Most contested matters settle. They settle better when the file behind them is complete.
All five jurisdictions divide marital property by equitable distribution rather than community property. Equitable means fair as the court assesses it, weighing statutory factors — not automatically equal. What counts as marital versus separate property, and how commingled assets are traced, is frequently the largest financial question in the case.
Closely held business interests, professional practices, stock options and restricted stock, deferred compensation, and retirement assets each raise their own valuation and division questions. Retirement plan division generally requires a separate qualified order alongside the decree.
Property held abroad raises questions of valuation, disclosure, enforceability, and reach that domestic assets do not.
Unlike child support, spousal support is not formula-driven in most of these jurisdictions. Courts weigh statutory factors — length of the marriage, each party's income and earning capacity, the standard of living established during the marriage, and each party's needs and resources.
Custody decisions are governed by the best interests of the child. Legal custody — decision-making about education, healthcare, and religion — is analyzed separately from physical custody. A parenting plan sets the schedule, including holidays, school breaks, and travel.
Child support is guideline-driven in each of these jurisdictions, calculated from parental income, the parenting-time split, and the cost of healthcare and childcare. What income counts is a live question for business owners, commission earners, and the variably employed.
Moving out of state with a child after a custody order is entered generally requires the other parent's consent or the court's permission, and it is among the most heavily litigated issues in family law.
Drafted before or during a marriage, these agreements are enforceable where they meet formal and substantive requirements — which include disclosure and the circumstances of signing. The same requirements are where they are challenged.
A comprehensive agreement resolving property, support, and custody, typically incorporated into the final decree so that it can be enforced by the court.
Service members and their spouses face questions civilian divorces do not — residency and filing, the division of military retired pay, survivor benefit elections, and the protections that apply during active duty.
Support and custody orders can be revisited when circumstances materially change. Enforcement is a separate track where an existing order is not being followed.
Available in narrow circumstances that differ by jurisdiction, and distinct from divorce in both requirements and effect.
Establishing parentage, seeking guardianship of a minor or an incapacitated adult, and step-parent and other adoptions.
Section 04
01
They resolve by agreement, and the negotiation goes better when the underlying file is complete.
02
Both parties must disclose assets and debts fully. Non-disclosure carries consequences, and discovered non-disclosure reshapes a case.
03
Interrogatories, requests for production, subpoenas, and depositions, used where the informal exchange is incomplete or contested.
04
Occupancy of the marital home, interim support, a temporary parenting schedule — either party can ask the court to rule in the meantime.
05
A neutral mediator does not decide anything and does not give legal advice. Preparation before a session and review of anything proposed in one are where counsel adds value.
06
Both parties and their counsel agree in writing to resolve the matter without litigation, often with financial neutrals and parenting professionals involved.
07
Where a party will not negotiate in good faith, where disclosure is incomplete, or where safety is at issue, the matter is tried. Preparing a case properly is what makes either outcome possible.
08
The firm discusses jurisdiction, posture, and fee structure directly at the consultation, before any engagement.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Results may vary. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case.
Section 05
Every attorney other than Mr. Sris practices with the firm as Of Counsel and contracts directly with Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. Of the attorneys listed below, only Mr. Sris is admitted in Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York. Each attorney's admissions are listed with their entry.
Owner and Founder · Former Prosecutor
Admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York. A former prosecutor. He testified in support of Virginia HB 635 (2019) before the House Courts of Justice Committee.
Practice on this site: divorce, custody, support, and property division across all five jurisdictions.
Of Counsel
Admitted in Virginia and Florida. Practices in family law, employment law, and business litigation.
Practice on this site: divorce, custody, support, and property division matters in Virginia, including contested matters requiring discovery and litigation.
Of Counsel
Admitted in Virginia. Practices in estates and elder law.
Practice on this site: guardianship and conservatorship matters, and the estate planning questions that follow a divorce — beneficiary designations, wills, and powers of attorney that survive the decree unless they are changed.
Section 06
Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. accepts family law matters in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York, including the courts of:
Fairfax County · Prince William County · Loudoun County · Arlington County · Alexandria · Chesterfield County · Henrico County · Virginia Beach · Chesapeake · Norfolk
Montgomery County · Prince George's County · Howard County · Anne Arundel County · Baltimore County
Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Family Court Operations
Monmouth County · Essex County · Camden County
Statewide
Consultations are by appointment. To reach a firm location, call (888) 437-7747.
To discuss a divorce, custody, support, or property matter in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, or New York, request a consultation with Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C.
Call (888) 437-7747Section 07
It depends on the jurisdiction and on how much is contested. An uncontested divorce where the parties have a complete signed agreement moves at the pace of the court's calendar. A contested divorce involving disputed valuation or custody runs considerably longer, because the discovery and the negotiation take the time they take. The jurisdiction matters too: some of these states require a separation period before a case can even be filed, and one of them no longer does.
Not necessarily, and some people complete one without counsel. What counsel does in an uncontested matter is make sure the agreement actually resolves everything — including retirement division, tax treatment, life insurance, and what happens if someone does not comply — and that the filing is accepted the first time. The agreements that cause problems years later are usually the ones that read as complete but are not.
Fees depend on the jurisdiction, on whether the matter is contested, and on how much of the work is discovery and motion practice rather than drafting. An uncontested matter with a complete agreement is a different engagement from a contested case with a business to value. The firm discusses fee structure directly at the consultation, before any engagement.
By the best interests of the child. Courts weigh statutory factors — the child's relationship with each parent, each parent's ability to meet the child's needs, stability, the child's own preference depending on age and maturity, and the history of caregiving. Legal custody, meaning decision-making authority, is analyzed separately from physical custody, meaning where the child lives.
No. All five of these jurisdictions use equitable distribution, which means a division the court assesses as fair after weighing statutory factors — the length of the marriage, each spouse's monetary and non-monetary contributions including homemaking and childcare, and each party's circumstances going forward. Equal is one possible outcome, not the starting presumption.
Marital property is generally what was acquired during the marriage, whatever name it is titled in. Separate property is generally what a spouse owned before the marriage, or received during it by gift from a third party or by inheritance. Where separate property has been mixed with marital property, tracing it back is a factual exercise, and it is frequently contested.
Unlike child support, spousal support is not formula-driven in most of these jurisdictions. A court weighs statutory factors — the length of the marriage, each party's income and earning capacity, the standard of living established during the marriage, and each party's needs and resources. Duration, and whether an award can later be modified, vary across the five jurisdictions.
Yes, on a showing of a material change in circumstances since the order was entered. A change in income, a relocation, a change in the child's needs, or a change in the parenting schedule can each support a modification request. Orders are not permanent, but changing one requires going back to the court that entered it.
A separation agreement — also called a marital settlement agreement or property settlement agreement — is a contract between the spouses resolving their issues. A divorce decree is the court's order ending the marriage. The agreement is typically incorporated into the decree, which is what makes its terms enforceable by the court rather than only as a contract.
Not necessarily for a trial. Where the parties reach a complete agreement, the matter is generally submitted to the court for entry, sometimes with a brief hearing and sometimes without one. Trial is what happens when issues remain unresolved.
It is decided by agreement or by the court. The options are generally a sale with division of proceeds, a buyout by one spouse, or deferred sale — commonly to a date tied to the children. Who occupies the home while the case is pending can be addressed by a temporary order, and that decision is separate from who ultimately receives it.
Retirement assets accumulated during the marriage are generally marital property. Dividing an employer plan usually requires a separate qualified order in addition to the decree, drafted to the plan's requirements and approved by the plan administrator. Getting that order wrong is one of the more expensive mistakes available in a divorce, and it is usually discovered years afterwards.
It depends entirely on the jurisdiction. Virginia and New Jersey retain fault grounds; New York retains its older fault grounds alongside no-fault; Maryland no longer recognizes the fault grounds it once did; and the District of Columbia has no fault grounds at all. Even where fault is available, whether pleading it improves the outcome is a separate question from whether it is technically available.
Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Results may vary. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case.
Attorney responsible for this advertising: Sris. Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C.
The information on this website is provided for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice for any individual matter. Transmission or receipt of this information does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consultations are by appointment.
Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. · (888) 437-7747 · Founded 1997
