All 50 states and the District of Columbia have no-fault divorce, so no spouse anywhere in the United States is required to prove wrongdoing to end a marriage. The uniformity stops at that headline, though. About 15 states are “pure” no-fault jurisdictions where marital misconduct plays no role in the divorce itself, while the rest run hybrid systems that keep traditional fault grounds available alongside the no-fault option. Which category your state falls into can change how a court handles alimony and property division, so the count is only the start of the answer.
Pure No-Fault States and Hybrid States
Roughly 15 states operate as pure no-fault jurisdictions. In these states, the court will not hear allegations of adultery, cruelty, or other marital misconduct as part of the divorce proceedings. The only question is whether the marriage has broken down beyond repair. The group includes California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, and Washington, among others. If you live in one of these states and want the judge to know your spouse cheated, that evidence simply will not be entertained as a divorce ground.
The remaining states and D.C. use hybrid systems. They offer no-fault grounds but also preserve traditional fault-based options such as adultery, abandonment, cruelty, or imprisonment. A spouse in a hybrid state picks the path. Filing on fault grounds adds cost and complexity because you have to actually prove the misconduct, but it can shape how the court divides property or awards spousal support.
So the practical count looks like this: 50 states plus D.C. allow a no-fault filing; about 15 of them allow only no-fault; the balance let spouses choose.
Covenant Marriage: Where No-Fault Is Not Automatic
Three states let couples opt into a form of marriage that restricts access to no-fault divorce. Arizona, Arkansas, and Louisiana offer “covenant marriage,” which requires premarital counseling and a signed declaration that the marriage is intended to be lifelong. Couples who choose this option give up the right to a simple no-fault filing.
In Arizona, a spouse in a covenant marriage can only obtain a divorce on specific grounds: adultery, a felony conviction, abandonment for at least one year, physical or sexual abuse, habitual substance abuse, or living apart for at least two years. Both spouses can also agree to dissolve the marriage.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 25-903 – Dissolution of a Covenant Marriage; Grounds Arkansas has a similar list but requires a two-year separation period and mandates counseling before filing.2Justia Law. Arkansas Code 9-11-808 – Divorce or Separation Louisiana directs covenant marriage divorces to its own set of exclusive grounds.3Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:272 – Covenant Marriage
Covenant marriages are rare. Most couples in these three states marry under the standard framework and keep full access to no-fault divorce. If you entered a covenant marriage, though, the streamlined dissolution is off the table unless you meet one of the fault conditions or satisfy the required separation period.
How Fault Can Still Affect the Outcome
Filing on no-fault grounds does not always make misconduct invisible to the court. In many hybrid states, fault can shape the financial side of the case even when it is not the stated reason for the divorce.
Spousal support is where this shows up most often. A number of hybrid states let judges consider adultery, cruelty, or other misconduct when deciding whether to award alimony and how much. A spouse who committed adultery might receive a reduced award or none at all, depending on state law. Property division can also be touched. Some states permit courts to give a larger share of marital assets to the spouse who was not at fault, particularly where financial misconduct is involved, such as hiding assets or running up debt to harm the other party.
Child custody works differently. Whether your state is pure no-fault or hybrid, courts decide custody based on the child’s best interests, and marital fault like infidelity has little bearing on who gets custody. The exception is misconduct that directly affects the child’s safety. Evidence of domestic violence, substance abuse, or neglect weighs heavily and can result in restricted or supervised visitation for the offending parent, regardless of the grounds used for the divorce.
How Every State Got Here
For most of American legal history, getting a divorce meant proving your spouse did something wrong. Courts required evidence of adultery, cruelty, abandonment, or another recognized offense before dissolving a marriage. The system pushed couples into ugly courtroom fights and, in many cases, encouraged fabricated testimony to satisfy the legal standard.
California broke the mold in 1969 when Governor Ronald Reagan signed the Family Law Act, making it the first state to allow divorce based solely on “irreconcilable differences.” Under California Family Code Section 2310, either spouse could seek dissolution without accusing the other of anything at all.4California Legislative Information. California Code FAM 2310 – Grounds for Dissolution or Legal Separation Other states followed over the next four decades, but the transition was slow. New York held out the longest, finally adding no-fault grounds in 2010 when it amended its Domestic Relations Law to allow divorce where the relationship has “broken down irretrievably for a period of at least six months.”5New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law 170 – Action for Divorce That change completed the national shift. Every state now offers a no-fault path; what varies is whether it is the only path.
What This Means for You
If you are weighing a divorce, the first question is which category your state falls into. In a pure no-fault state, there is no legal advantage to collecting evidence of your spouse’s affair or misbehavior for the divorce itself, because the court will not consider it. In a hybrid state, that evidence may still matter for alimony or property division even if you file on no-fault grounds, and it may matter even more if you file on fault grounds directly.
Residency rules also vary widely. A few states, like Washington and Hawaii, impose no minimum residency period at all. Others set the bar at 60 or 90 days. Many require six months, and a handful demand a full year or two years of continuous residence before you can file. Separate from residency, some states require a period of living apart before a no-fault divorce can be filed, ranging from 60 days to 18 months or longer. Some allow spouses to remain under the same roof during that time as long as they keep separate lives; others do not. These timing rules can add months to the process, so they are worth checking before you make plans around a filing date.
The short answer to the counting question is 50 plus D.C. The longer answer is that no-fault means different things in a California courtroom than it does in a Texas or South Carolina one, and the difference can show up in the final decree.