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Maine

Your marriage contract, Maine edition

60 of 100 on the Luck of the Draw Index

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 60 out of 100

Maine leaves property division and fee awards to the judge. For cases pending on or after January 1, 2027, presumptions set general support by formula and tie its length to the length of the marriage. Marital fault is generally kept out. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Maine ranks 13 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

PartScoreThe rule, and where it comes from
Property15 / 20The court sets apart each spouse’s nonmarital property and divides marital property in proportions it considers just after considering listed factors, with no presumption of equality.
19-A M.R.S. § 953(1)
Alimony5 / 20For cases pending on or after January 1, 2027, rebuttable presumptions set general support at the difference in the spouses’ incomes times 0.015 for each year of marriage, up to 0.3, bar it for marriages under 10 years, limit it to half the marriage for marriages of 10 to 20 years, and make it indefinite after 20 years, and a court leaving a presumption must make written findings.
19-A M.R.S. § 951-A(2)(A), (5); PL 2025, c. 571, § 8
Fault0 / 20The Law Court holds that marital misconduct ordinarily is not considered in dividing property, and the statutory spousal-support factors list economic misconduct and economic abuse but not marital fault.
Boyd v. Boyd, 421 A.2d 1356 (Me. 1980); Delano v. Delano, 501 A.2d 1287 (Me. 1985); 19-A M.R.S. § 951-A(5) (not yet checked against the source)
Lawyers’ fees20 / 20The court may order a party to pay another party’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, during the case or in the final decision.
19-A M.R.S. § 105(1)-(2)
Second opinion20 / 20No rule allowing removal of a divorce judge without cause was found, and the District Court hears divorces without a jury.
No citation confirmed; Maine Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 2.11 (recusal for cause) per search results (not yet checked against the source)

Getting in

No waiting period. Both parties sign and record a notice of intentions with the municipal clerk where one of them lives or with the State Registrar; if neither lives in Maine, any municipal office will do. A license can then issue with no waiting period. It is void if not used within 90 days of filing. Anyone previously married must submit a decree or death record.
19-A M.R.S. §§ 651, 652; 30-A M.R.S. § 2652(2)

Who can marry you. Maine-resident judges, Maine lawyers and licensed marriage officiants may officiate, as may ordained ministers, clerics serving their religious body and people licensed to preach, resident or not. Quaker and Baha’i marriages may follow their own forms. Two witnesses besides the officiant must attend. The statute does not address online ordination. Notaries lost this authority in 2023.
19-A M.R.S. §§ 655, 656(2), 658; 5 M.R.S. § 90-G

Common-law marriage: Not available here. A couple cannot form a common-law marriage in Maine. Maine’s marriage requirements are set by statute, and the Law Court has declined to recognize common-law marriage. No Maine statute or Law Court decision reviewed for this page says whether Maine honors one validly formed in another state.
Belliveau v. Whelan, 2019 ME 122; Pierce v. Sec’y of U.S. Dep’t of Health, Educ. & Welfare, 254 A.2d 46 (Me. 1969)

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

The property system

Maine is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. Property either spouse acquires after the wedding and before a decree of legal separation is presumed marital, whatever the title. Gifts, inheritances, premarital property and property excluded by agreement stay separate. Market growth on separate property stays separate; growth from marital money or labor, or reinvested income where a spouse actively managed it, is marital.
19-A M.R.S. § 953(1)-(3)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

Putting it in joint names usually makes it marital. Placing an inheritance in a documented joint account makes it presumptively marital, even though it was separate before. The heir overcomes that only with clear and convincing evidence that they did not intend joint ownership, or that fraud, coercion, duress or deception induced it. The court may still give that spouse a larger share.
Spooner v. Spooner, 2004 ME 69, 850 A.2d 354; Burrow v. Burrow, 2014 ME 111, 100 A.3d 1104; 19-A M.R.S. § 953

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Generally, you don’t owe your spouse’s bills. A married person is not liable for the spouse’s debts contracted before marriage or contracted in the spouse’s own name for any lawful purpose, and no Maine statute imposes a family-expense or necessaries liability between spouses.
19-A M.R.S. § 804(1)

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

If one of you dies (Article 9)

The surviving spouse may elect 50 percent of the marital-property portion of the augmented estate, which grows from 3 percent (under one year of marriage) to 100 percent (15 years or more); the augmented estate includes the probate estate, non-probate transfers to others and to the spouse, and the survivor’s own property. Maine’s version has no supplemental minimum amount.
18-C M.R.S. §§ 2-202, 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), 19-A M.R.S. §§ 601-611. 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; the Law Court has said enforcement should be denied only in those circumstances, though a fee-waiver clause was held unenforceable as applied to litigation over parental rights.
19-A M.R.S. § 608; Estate of Martin, 2008 ME 7, 938 A.2d 812; Riemann v. Toland, 2022 ME 13

What an agreement needs. A premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties and needs no consideration; no notarization, witnesses, waiting period or independent counsel is required, and a court may order support despite a waiver if the waiver would make a spouse eligible for public assistance at separation or divorce.
19-A M.R.S. §§ 603, 608(2)

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

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Maine adds both parents’ incomes, applies a state table, and divides the result in proportion to their incomes. An order lasts to 18, or for a secondary school student until graduation, withdrawal, expulsion or 19, whichever comes first. Marriage or military service also ends it. The support statutes do not provide for college costs.
19-A M.R.S. §§ 1653(12), 2006(1), (4), 2011

Moving away with a child. A parent must give the other parent at least 30 days’ notice of an intended relocation, or as soon as possible if less time is available. That notice, an out-of-state move, or a move disrupting contact counts as a substantial change in circumstances. The judge then decides the child’s best interest, balancing both parents’ rights.
19-A M.R.S. §§ 1653(14), 1657(2); Low v. Low, 2021 ME 30

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: six months. A spouse who moves to Maine alone must have lived there in good faith for 6 months before filing. The 6 months is not required if the filer is a resident and the couple married in Maine, or lived in Maine when the cause of divorce arose, or if the other spouse is a Maine resident.
19-A M.R.S. § 901(1)

How long it takes. Irreconcilable marital differences is a no-fault ground, and no separation is required. A final hearing cannot occur until 60 days after service. If the other spouse denies the differences, the judge may continue the case and order counseling, and refusing it without good reason is prima facie evidence. Maine courts have granted divorces over a spouse’s opposition.
19-A M.R.S. § 902(1)(H), (2); M.R. Civ. P. 113; Pelletier v. Pelletier, 597 A.2d 60 (Me. 1991)

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 240 days from arrival to a final decree (180 days of residence + 60-day wait after service). Courts often take longer.

If you moved here from another state

Maine’s law can apply even if only one of you moved. In 2006 Maine’s highest court applied Maine law to all of a couple’s property, including their Massachusetts home, after the wife moved to the couple’s land here and filed. The court had power over both spouses.
Zeolla v. Zeolla, 2006 ME 118, 908 A.2d 629

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 Maine and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

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