Nevada

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 55 out of 100

Nevada requires an equal split of community property unless the judge finds a compelling reason and explains it in writing, and marital fault is excluded from both property and alimony. Alimony amount and length are left to the judge, and each side may 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.” Nevada ranks 8 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	The court must, to the extent practicable, make an equal disposition of community property, but may divide it unequally if it finds a compelling reason and states the reasons in writing. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 125.150(1)(b)
Alimony	20 / 20	The court may award alimony ‘as appears just and equitable’ after considering eleven listed factors, with no formula or durational cap. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 125.150(1)(a), (9)
Fault	0 / 20	The Nevada Supreme Court held that a court ‘may not consider either party’s misconduct or fault’ in awarding alimony, and, relying on its earlier cases, that spousal abuse is not a basis for an unequal division of community property, though financial misconduct that wastes community assets can be. Rodriguez v. Rodriguez, 116 Nev. 993, 13 P.3d 415 (2000) (citing Wheeler v. Upton-Wheeler, 113 Nev. 1185 (1997), and Lofgren v. Lofgren, 112 Nev. 1282 (1996))
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	The court may award a reasonable attorney’s fee to either party to a divorce action. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 125.150(4)
Second opinion	10 / 20	In any civil action pending in a district court, each side is entitled as of right to one change of judge by peremptory challenge, filed with a $450 fee. Nev. Sup. Ct. R. 48.1(1)-(2)

Getting in

No waiting period. Both people appear before a county clerk (the clerk may waive one appearance in extraordinary circumstances), show ID proving name and age, and must be 18, or 17 with parental consent and a judge’s approval. There is no waiting period, and the license expires after one year.
NRS 122.020, 122.025, 122.040, 122.060

Who can marry you. Judges, justices of the peace, civil marriage commissioners, authorized mayors, or a minister, religious official, notary or marriage officiant with a county certificate may officiate with one witness present, and a person may apply to perform one specific marriage ($25, five per year). The statute does not address online ordination, and Quaker-form and tribal-custom marriages are valid under their own forms.
NRS 122.062, 122.064, 122.080, 122.090, 122.110, 122.150, 122.160, 122.170

Common-law marriage: Closed to new couples. A couple cannot form a common-law marriage in Nevada, because consent must be followed by solemnization; only those in effect before March 29, 1943 are preserved. The statute does not say whether one validly formed in another state is honored, and no appellate opinion on that point was found.
NRS 122.010; Candelaria v. Kelly, 139 Nev., Adv. Op. 36 (2023)

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

The property system

Nevada 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. Nevada is a community property state: what either spouse acquires after the wedding is community property until the divorce decree, even during separation, unless a written agreement or separate-maintenance decree says otherwise. Premarital property, gifts, inheritances and their rents and profits stay separate, and the judge divides community property equally absent a compelling reason.
NRS 123.130, 123.220, 125.150; Forrest v. Forrest, 99 Nev. 602, 668 P.2d 275 (1983); Malmquist v. Malmquist, 106 Nev. 231, 792 P.2d 372 (1990)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

It can stay separate if you can trace it. Mixing an inheritance with community money in a joint account creates a presumption that all of it is community property, which the owner can rebut by tracing or by proving family expenses used up community income. For property held in joint tenancy, the judge may reimburse a traced separate contribution, without interest or growth, after weighing the spouses’ intent.
Malmquist v. Malmquist, 106 Nev. 231, 792 P.2d 372 (1990); NRS 125.150(2)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Both of you can be liable from the first dollar. Nevada is a community-property state: a person who supplies necessaries to a spouse whom the other spouse has neglected to support may recover their value from the neglecting spouse, and that spouse’s separate property is liable only if the couple’s community property is not enough; neither spouse’s separate property or share of community property is liable for the other’s premarital debts.
Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 123.090, 123.050

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

If one of you dies (Article 9)

Nevada has no elective share; at death one-half of the community property belongs to the surviving spouse as separate property, and the decedent may dispose of only the other half (which passes to the survivor if there is no will). Nevada has no quasi-community rule at death.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 123.250; § 123.230(1)

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), Nev. Rev. Stat. ch. 123A. A premarital agreement is unenforceable if the challenger proves it was not signed voluntarily, that it was unconscionable when executed, or that the challenger lacked fair and reasonable disclosure, did not waive it in writing, and had no adequate knowledge of the other’s finances (Nevada lists these as separate grounds). Spouses may contract with each other about property subject to the rules for persons in relations of confidence and trust, but may not by contract alter their legal relations except as to property and support during an immediate separation.
Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 123A.080, 123.070, 123.080

What an agreement needs. A premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties and is enforceable without consideration; a separate older statute requires marriage contracts or settlements to be executed and acknowledged like a deed and recorded to affect real property against third parties. If a support waiver would make a spouse eligible for public assistance at separation or divorce, the court may order support to the extent needed to avoid that.
Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 123A.040, 123A.080(2), 123.270, 123.300

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

Children (Article 8)

Child support: percentage of income. Support is a tiered percentage of the paying parent’s gross monthly income: for one child, 16 percent of the first $6,000, 8 percent up to $10,000 and 4 percent above that, with higher rates for more children and offsets for joint custody. Support ends at 18, or 19 if still in high school, unless a contract provides otherwise.
NAC 425.115, 425.140; NRS 125C.0045(9), 125B.110

Moving away with a child. Before moving out of state, or far enough within it to impair the other parent’s relationship, a parent must seek written consent and, if refused, ask the court, and moving without either can be a felony. The moving parent must show a good-faith reason, the child’s best interests and an actual advantage, and these sections set no notice period.
NRS 125C.006, 125C.0065, 125C.007, 200.359

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: six weeks. One spouse must have lived in Nevada for at least six weeks before filing, unless the cause of action arose in the county while both spouses were domiciled there. Where the marriage took place does not matter, and the court requires corroboration of residence.
NRS 125.020; NRS 54.010

How long it takes. Incompatibility is a ground with no separation requirement, and the statute sets no waiting period after filing, though the other spouse has 21 days after service to answer under the civil rules. Living apart for one year is a separate ground the judge may grant at either spouse’s request.
NRS 125.010; Nev. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(1)(A)(i); Rodriguez v. Rodriguez, No. 30223 (Nev. Nov. 30, 2000)

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 42 days from arrival to a final decree (42 days of residence). Courts often take longer.

If you moved here from another state

The old state’s law has applied. In 1975 Nevada’s Supreme Court, in a divorce filed here, tested a prenup under Ohio law because it was signed and to be performed in Ohio, and it applied Ohio law again in upholding the property award.
Braddock v. Braddock, 91 Nev. 735 (1975)

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 Nevada 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 Nevada lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Nevada” 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.