Idaho

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 65 out of 100

Idaho presumes an equal split of community property and does not divide separate property, but it leaves maintenance amount and length to the judge and lets fault count in maintenance. Each party can remove the assigned judge once without giving a reason. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Idaho ranks 16 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	5 / 20	Unless there are compelling reasons otherwise, community property is divided in substantially equal value, and the statute reaches only community property. Idaho Code § 32-712(1)(a)
Alimony	20 / 20	A spouse who lacks sufficient property and cannot self-support may receive maintenance in amounts and for periods the court deems just after considering listed factors. Idaho Code § 32-705
Fault	10 / 20	The fault of either party is a listed maintenance factor, while the property-division factors do not list fault. Idaho Code §§ 32-705(2)(g), 32-712(1)(b)
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	The court may order a party to pay a reasonable amount for the other party’s attorney’s fees after considering both parties’ financial resources and the maintenance factors. Idaho Code § 32-704(3)
Second opinion	10 / 20	Each party in a family law case may file one motion to disqualify the judge without cause, and no jury is available on property or maintenance. Idaho R. Fam. L. P. 109(a)

Getting in

No waiting period. Both partners apply to a county recorder, give Social Security numbers or the listed substitute proof, and pay the fee. The code sets no waiting period and no expiration date, and county recorders confirm both. The license works only for a ceremony in Idaho.
Idaho Code §§ 32-401, 32-403, 32-408, 31-3205(1)(k), 39-5213(1); IDAPA 16.02.08.501

Who can marry you. A current or retired state judge, current or former governor, current lieutenant governor, current mayor, federal judge, tribal judge or approved tribal official, or a priest or minister of any denomination may officiate. The couple must declare their marriage in front of that person. The code does not address online ordination, but a marriage is not void for lack of authority if a spouse fully believed it lawful.
Idaho Code §§ 32-201, 32-303, 32-304, 32-308, 32-402

Common-law marriage: Closed to new couples. Consent alone no longer creates a marriage in Idaho; a license and a ceremony are required. Common-law marriages already in effect before January 1, 1996 remain valid. A marriage valid where it was contracted is valid in Idaho unless it violates Idaho public policy, and the statute does not single out common-law marriages from other states.
Idaho Code §§ 32-201, 32-209, 32-301

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Idaho is one of nine community property jurisdictions. Community property. What either of you earns during the marriage belongs to both of you as it’s earned, and it’s generally split in half at the end. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. Premarital property, gifts, inheritances and what they buy stay separate; everything else acquired during marriage is community. Income from separate property is also community unless the instrument conveying it or a written agreement says otherwise. Separation does not stop accumulation; the decree does. Natural growth of separate property stays separate, but growth from community effort or funds is community. The court divides community property about equally absent compelling reasons.
Idaho Code §§ 32-903, 32-906(1), 32-712(1); Suter v. Suter, 97 Idaho 461, 546 P.2d 1169 (1976); Martsch v. Martsch, 103 Idaho 142, 645 P.2d 882 (1982)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

It can stay separate if you can trace it. Separate money in a joint account stays separate if the owner can trace it with reasonable certainty, by direct tracing or by accounting. The owner carries that burden, because property acquired during marriage is presumed community. If funds are so mixed that tracing fails, or the spouses treated them as one fund, the whole account becomes community.
Stahl v. Stahl, 91 Idaho 794, 430 P.2d 685 (1967); Gapsch v. Gapsch, 76 Idaho 44, 277 P.2d 278 (1954); Barton v. Barton, 132 Idaho 394, 973 P.2d 746 (1999); Baruch v. Clark, 154 Idaho 732, 302 P.3d 357 (2013)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Both of you can be liable from the first dollar. Community property state: either spouse may bind the community property by contract, so a necessaries debt incurred by one spouse can be collected from all community property from the first dollar; a community obligation incurred without the other spouse’s written consent does not reach that spouse’s separate property.
Idaho Code §§ 32-912, 32-906(1)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

Idaho has no elective share against separate property; the survivor keeps his or her own half of the community property, the decedent’s half passes by will (or to the survivor if there is no will), and the survivor owns one-half of quasi-community property and may reach quasi-community property the decedent transferred while keeping control or within two years of death.
Idaho Code §§ 15-3-101, 15-2-201, 15-2-202, 15-2-203

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

One look, under UPAA (1983), Idaho Code §§ 32-921 to 32-929. A premarital agreement is unenforceable only if signed involuntarily, or unconscionable when signed together with inadequate disclosure, no written waiver of disclosure, and no adequate knowledge of the other’s finances. Agreements made during marriage are enforceable as marriage settlements if they meet the conveyance formalities.
Idaho Code §§ 32-925, 32-916, 32-917; Dunagan v. Dunagan, No. 34516 (Idaho June 9, 2009)

What an agreement needs. A premarital agreement must be in writing, signed by both parties, and executed and acknowledged (notarized) or proved in the manner required for conveyances of land; no witnesses beyond that, waiting period or independent counsel is required. A court may order support despite a waiver if the waiver would make a spouse eligible for public assistance at separation or divorce, and oral agreements are not enforced.
Idaho Code §§ 32-922, 32-917, 32-925(2); Dunagan v. Dunagan (Idaho 2009)

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Support is figured from both parents’ combined income and divided in proportion to each parent’s income. A judge can order support to 18, or to 19 while the child is in high school. Guidelines support does not cover education after high school. A parent cannot enforce a college promise merged into a decree, but the children can sue on it. An unmerged agreement can be enforced as a contract.
Idaho Code § 32-706(1)-(2); I.R.F.L.P. 120(a), (c), (i); Noble v. Fisher, 126 Idaho 885, 894 P.2d 118 (1995); Spencer-Steed v. Spencer, 115 Idaho 338, 766 P.2d 1219 (1988)

Moving away with a child. No Idaho statute sets a notice period. When a move would violate an existing custody arrangement, the parent who wants to move must prove the move serves the child’s best interests. Idaho has no presumption against relocation, and the presumption favoring joint custody does not create one. Judges decide each case on the custody factors.
Idaho Code §§ 32-717, 32-717B; Roberts v. Roberts, 138 Idaho 401, 64 P.3d 327 (2003); Bartosz v. Jones, 146 Idaho 449, 197 P.3d 310 (2008); Wilson v. Wilson, 560 P.3d 1126 (Idaho 2024)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: six weeks. The person filing must have lived in Idaho for six full weeks right before filing. No county period is added, and the statute does not depend on where the couple married or where the grounds arose.
Idaho Code § 32-701

How long it takes. Irreconcilable differences are grounds the judge finds to be substantial reasons to end the marriage, so one spouse can obtain a divorce without the other’s consent. No decree may enter until 21 days after filing and service unless both spouses agree to proceed. A judge can stay the case up to 90 days when there are minor children and reconciliation is practicable.
Idaho Code §§ 32-603(8), 32-610, 32-616, 32-716

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 63 days from arrival to a final decree (42 days of residence + 21-day wait). Courts often take longer.

If you moved here from another state

The old state’s law can apply to property from there. In 1976 Idaho’s Supreme Court refused to apply Idaho’s bar on dividing separate property to securities and accounts a husband acquired in New Jersey and brought here alone, and it looked to New Jersey’s law. In 1985 it used Maryland law to classify Maryland land a couple still owned after moving here.
Berle v. Berle, 97 Idaho 452 (1976); McHugh v. McHugh, 108 Idaho 347 (1985)

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Idaho and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Idaho lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Idaho” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.