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North Dakota

Your marriage contract, North Dakota edition

80 of 100 on the Luck of the Draw Index

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 80 out of 100

North Dakota judges divide everything either spouse owns, including inherited and premarital property, and may weigh marital fault in both property and support. Since August 2023 the statute bars permanent spousal support and caps its length for marriages under 20 years, and either side can remove the assigned judge once without cause. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” North Dakota ranks 30 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
Property20 / 20The court makes an equitable distribution of all property and debts of the parties under the Ruff-Fischer guidelines, and the North Dakota Supreme Court requires all assets regardless of source, including premarital and inherited property, to be included in the estate.
N.D.C.C. § 14-05-24(1); Marsden v. Koop, 2010 ND 196, 789 N.W.2d 531
Alimony10 / 20The court sets the amount of spousal support by weighing statutory factors, may not award permanent support, and for marriages under 20 years must end support within 50 to 80 percent of the marriage’s length in months unless written findings show a longer period is necessary.
N.D.C.C. § 14-05-24.1(2)-(5), as amended by 2023 H.B. 1037
Fault20 / 20The conduct of the parties during the marriage is a statutory spousal support factor, and the North Dakota Supreme Court holds that both economic and non-economic fault may be considered in dividing property.
N.D.C.C. § 14-05-24.1(3)(d); Berdahl v. Berdahl, 2022 ND 136; Fietzek v. Fietzek, 2023 ND 78
Lawyers’ fees20 / 20While a divorce is pending the court may order a party to pay attorney’s fees, with no statutory presumption or formula.
N.D.C.C. § 14-05-23
Second opinion10 / 20Any party to a civil action in district court may obtain a change of judge by filing a written demand within ten days of the triggering events, without stating cause, and the statute applies to proceedings to modify alimony or property orders.
N.D.C.C. § 29-15-21

Getting in

No waiting period. Apply to the county recorder, or the official the county designates, where either party or a parent of a party lives or where the wedding will occur. No statute sets a waiting period. The license is good for 60 days and costs up to $65. Each applicant gives a Social Security number, and a divorced applicant files a certified copy of the decree.
N.D.C.C. §§ 14-03-10, 14-03-17, 14-03-22

Who can marry you. Judges of courts of record, municipal judges, county recorders or another official the county designates, ordained ministers, priests and clergy of recognized denominations, and anyone authorized by the rituals and practices of a religious persuasion may officiate. Two witnesses sign the certificate. The statute does not address online or mail-order ordination.
N.D.C.C. §§ 14-03-09, 14-03-20

Common-law marriage: Not available here. A couple cannot form a common-law marriage in North Dakota. The state supreme court says the 1890 legislature abolished it and that living together does not create a marriage. A marriage valid where it was contracted is valid here, unless North Dakota residents went elsewhere to contract a marriage prohibited at home.
N.D.C.C. §§ 14-03-01, 14-03-08; Cermak v. Cermak, 1997 ND 187, 569 N.W.2d 280

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

The property system

North Dakota 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. North Dakota is an all-property state. The court starts by treating everything either spouse owns as marital, however acquired and however titled, including premarital and inherited property, then divides it equitably. Unless the spouses agree on another date, property is valued 60 days before the first scheduled trial date, and the court may adjust for a substantial change in value.
N.D.C.C. § 14-05-24(1); Ulsaker v. White, 2006 ND 133, 717 N.W.2d 567

An inheritance that touches a joint account

A judge can reach it either way. An inheritance is part of the marital estate whether or not it touches a joint account. Its origin is only one factor the judge weighs under the Ruff-Fischer guidelines, and the state supreme court has never held that inherited property must be set aside to the spouse who received it.
Ulsaker v. White, 2006 ND 133, 717 N.W.2d 567; Ceynar v. Ceynar, No. 20240194 (N.D. Mar. 6, 2025)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Both of you can be liable from the first dollar. Spouses are jointly and severally liable for debts either contracts for necessary household supplies of food, clothing and fuel, medical care, shelter, and the education of minor children, except when one spouse has abandoned the other; the parties are also mutually liable to anyone who in good faith supplied either of them with necessaries.
N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14-07-08(3), 14-07-10

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 augmented estate, with no length-of-marriage schedule; the augmented estate includes the decedent’s non-probate transfers to others, and a supplemental amount brings the survivor up to $75,000.
N.D. Cent. Code §§ 30.1-05-01, 30.1-05-02

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

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

Two looks, under UPMAA (2012), enacted 2013. A premarital or marital agreement is unenforceable if consent was involuntary, the party lacked access to independent counsel, an unrepresented party got no plain-language waiver notice or explanation, or disclosure was inadequate. A court may also refuse to enforce a term that was unconscionable when signed or whose enforcement would cause substantial hardship because of a material change in circumstances after signing. Postnuptial (marital) agreements follow the same rules.
N.D. Cent. Code § 14-03.2-08

What an agreement needs. The agreement must be in a record signed by both parties; no notarization, witnesses or fixed waiting period is required, but each party must have a reasonable time to find and consult a lawyer, an unrepresented party must receive the conspicuous statutory waiver notice or a plain-language explanation, and each must receive adequate financial disclosure or waive it in a separate signed record. A support waiver can be overridden if it would leave a party eligible for public assistance, and terms may not limit domestic-violence remedies or penalize filing for divorce.
N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14-03.2-05, 14-03.2-08, 14-03.2-09

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

Children (Article 8)

Child support: percentage of income. A state schedule sets support from the paying parent’s monthly net income and the number of children; the other parent’s income matters only in limited deviations. Support runs to 18, or to high school graduation or 19, whichever comes first, if the child is in high school and lives with the other parent. A judge cannot order college support, though parents may agree to it.
N.D. Admin. Code §§ 75-02-04.1-02, 75-02-04.1-10; N.D.C.C. § 14-09-08.2; Larson v. Larson, 2005 ND 67, 694 N.W.2d 13

Moving away with a child. A parent with primary residential responsibility needs the other parent’s consent or a court order to move the child to another state. The moving parent must prove the move serves the child’s best interests under four factors. No order is needed if the other parent has not used parenting time for a year, or has moved out of state and lives over 50 miles away.
N.D.C.C. § 14-09-07; Larson v. Larson, 2016 ND 76, 878 N.W.2d 54; Stephens v. Lee, No. 20230381 (N.D. June 20, 2024)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: no minimum. The plaintiff must have been a good-faith North Dakota resident for six months. The six months can run back from filing or from the decree, so a new resident may file at once if the six months are complete before the decree. Where the couple married or where the grounds arose does not matter.
N.D.C.C. § 14-05-17

How long it takes. A spouse can seek a divorce for irreconcilable differences, which the court decides are substantial reasons for not continuing the marriage. The statute does not require the other spouse’s consent or a separation. No statute sets a waiting period after filing, but the defendant has 21 days to answer and the decree must wait for six months of residence.
N.D.C.C. §§ 14-05-03, 14-05-09.1, 14-05-17; N.D.R.Civ.P. 12(a)(1)

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 180 days from arrival to a final decree (180 days of residence before decree; no statutory wait). Courts often take longer.

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

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