Start your divorce online in Pennsylvania

A couple must meet the residency requirements to get a divorce in Pennsylvania: one or both spouses must have lived in Pennsylvania for at least six months before filing for divorce.

Also, any divorce papers must be filed in the Pennsylvania county where one or both spouses reside.

However, suppose the defendant lives in a different county than where the couple lived together during the marriage. In that case, the divorce may also be filed in the county where the couple resided during the marriage, if the claimant has resided there continuously since the separation or in the county where the applicant lives, if the defendant agrees.

In Pennsylvania, spouses can file for a no-fault divorce or a fault-based divorce.

No-fault grounds include "irretrievable breakdown of a marriage" or "irreconcilable difference." The first means that the marriage broke up irrevocably and has no hope of being repaired, and the second means that the spouses no longer get along.

If one of the spouses blames the other for the divorce, they can use the following fault-based grounds:

• Adultery
• Abandonment for at least one year
• Extreme cruelty, including domestic violence
• Bigamy (the defendant married the applicant without divorcing their first spouse)
• Felony conviction resulting in imprisonment for two or more years.

To get a divorce in Pennsylvania, the couple must file their divorce papers in a Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas. Then, the spouses need to file the required paperwork with the county's Prothonotary Office (court clerk).

Ex-partners can file online through the e-filing system, send papers by mail to the court, come to court in person and file divorce forms, or use the additional services of Divorce.com for filing documents with the court.

Spouses must pay mandatory court fees in Pennsylvania. Court fees differ from county to county, so the couple will need to check where they filed the exact amount with the court clerk.

However, in most Pennsylvania counties, divorce filing fees range from $200 to $300.

If the spouses cannot pay the registration fees, they can ask the judge to waive the fees. They must request a fee waiver by filing a Petition to Proceed In Forma Pauperis.

Serving is the delivery to the spouse of all copies of divorce papers. In Pennsylvania, an applicant may do so in the following ways:

• By personal service (hiring a sheriff or a professional process server);
• By mail with an Acceptance of Service form (only if an applicant thinks the defendant will agree to accept service);
• By certified mail (filling out an Acceptance of Service of Original Process by Mail form);
• By publication (publishing a notice in a newspaper if the applicant doesn't know where the defendant is).

After the spouses bring the original and two copies to the Prothonotary's Office for filing to begin their divorce, there is a 90-day waiting period before the court can finalize the marriage dissolution.

However, if the spouses have been separated for more than one year, the 90-day wait is no longer necessary, and their divorce can be finished in weeks.

Once the couple files all the papers, the clerk will forward their case to the judge for review. After the judge signs the Final Decree of Divorce, the clerk's office will give the spouses certified copies, and their divorce will be official.