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Pennsylvania

Your marriage contract, Pennsylvania edition

85 of 100 on the Luck of the Draw Index

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 85 out of 100

Pennsylvania leaves property shares, alimony amount and alimony duration to the judge’s weighing of factors, and fee awards to what is reasonable. Fault is barred from property division but is a listed alimony factor. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Pennsylvania ranks 36 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 divides marital property equitably without regard to marital misconduct, in such percentages as it deems just after considering the statutory factors, with no presumption of equality.
23 Pa.C.S. § 3502(a)
Alimony20 / 20The court may allow alimony it deems reasonable only if it finds alimony necessary, sets the amount after weighing seventeen factors, and fixes a definite or indefinite duration that is reasonable under the circumstances.
23 Pa.C.S. § 3701(a)-(c)
Fault10 / 20Property is divided without regard to marital misconduct, but marital misconduct during the marriage is a statutory alimony factor, with misconduct after final separation excluded except for abuse.
23 Pa.C.S. §§ 3502(a), 3701(b)(14)
Lawyers’ fees20 / 20In proper cases, upon petition, the court may allow a spouse reasonable counsel fees and expenses.
23 Pa.C.S. § 3702(a)
Second opinion20 / 20A party may ask for a jury on disputed facts in a divorce, but the court may refuse, and Pennsylvania has no peremptory challenge of judges.
23 Pa.C.S. § 3322

Getting in

A 3-day wait. Both people apply and appear in person at a county marriage license office and are examined under oath. The license cannot issue until the third day after the application; a court may waive that wait for an emergency or extraordinary circumstances, or for a reservist called to active duty. The license lasts 60 days from issue and works in any county.
23 Pa.C.S. §§ 1301, 1302, 1303, 1306, 1310

Who can marry you. Judges, current or qualified former mayors, and a minister, priest or rabbi of a regularly established church or congregation may officiate; so may a religious organization if one spouse is a member. A couple may unite themselves by religious ceremony with a court declaration and two witnesses. County judges have split on online ordination (York 2007 void, Bucks 2008 valid); no appellate ruling was found.
23 Pa.C.S. §§ 1502, 1503, 1504(b); In re O’Neill, No. 08-01620-29-1 (Bucks C.P. Dec. 31, 2008) (describing Heyer v. Hollerbush, No. 2007-SU-002132-Y08 (York C.P. Sept. 7, 2007))

Common-law marriage: Closed to new couples. A common-law marriage contracted after January 1, 2005 is not valid; one otherwise lawful and contracted on or before that date stays valid. The statute does not address one formed elsewhere. In a 2014 case, a court rejected a claimed 2003 marriage because the couple never performed the required acts in a state that recognized such unions at the time.
23 Pa.C.S. § 1103; Serrano v. Workers’ Comp. Appeal Bd., 94 A.3d 425 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014)

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

The property system

Pennsylvania 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. Marital property is what either spouse acquired from the wedding until final separation, whoever holds title. Premarital property and gifts or inheritances from others stay nonmarital, but their increase in value during the marriage is marital. That increase runs to final separation or the date closest to the hearing, whichever gives the smaller increase, and a spouse’s losses on nonmarital property offset that spouse’s gains.
23 Pa.C.S. § 3501(a), (a.1), (b)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

Putting it in joint names usually makes it marital. An inheritance starts as nonmarital, but it becomes marital once placed in a joint account with a spouse or mixed with marital funds so that it cannot be traced. Moving separate property into joint names is presumed a gift to the marriage, which only clear and convincing evidence can overcome.
23 Pa.C.S. § 3501(a)(3); Bold v. Bold, 358 Pa. Super. 7, 516 A.2d 741 (1986); Verholek v. Verholek, 741 A.2d 792 (Pa. Super. 1999); Busse v. Busse, 921 A.2d 1248 (Pa. Super. 2007); Brown v. Brown, 352 Pa. Super. 267, 507 A.2d 1223 (1986)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

The spouse who got the care pays first. A creditor who supplied either spouse with necessaries for the family may sue both spouses, but after judgment must levy first on the property of the spouse who contracted the debt, and may reach the other spouse’s separate property only if none of the contracting spouse’s property is found.
23 Pa.C.S. § 4102

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

If one of you dies (Article 9)

The surviving spouse may elect one-third of the probate estate plus listed non-probate property, including retained-interest and revocable transfers, survivorship property, certain annuities, and gifts over $3,000 per donee within one year of death; life insurance, broad-based employer retirement plans and conveyances the spouse joined in are excluded.
20 Pa.C.S. § 2203

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

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

One look, under its own statute (23 Pa.C.S. § 3106), codifying Simeone. A premarital agreement is unenforceable only if the challenger proves by clear and convincing evidence that it was signed involuntarily, or that before signing the challenger lacked fair and reasonable disclosure, did not waive disclosure in writing, and lacked adequate knowledge; courts do not review the reasonableness of the bargain. Postnuptial agreements are judged by the same principles.
23 Pa.C.S. § 3106; Simeone v. Simeone, 525 Pa. 392 (1990); Stoner v. Stoner, 572 Pa. 665 (2003)

What an agreement needs. Section 3106 lists no execution formalities (no notarization, witnesses or waiting period), and independent counsel is not required. The only statutory condition is fair and reasonable financial disclosure or a written waiver of it; there is no unconscionability review and no public-assistance override, and support limits are enforced as written.
23 Pa.C.S. § 3106; Simeone v. Simeone, 525 Pa. 392 (1990)

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

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Pennsylvania’s guideline uses an income shares model. A parent’s duty runs until the child turns 18 or finishes high school, whichever is later, and special needs can extend it. A judge cannot order college support: the state Supreme Court struck down the college statute in 1995, although it is still printed in the code. Parents may take on college costs by contract.
Pa.R.C.P. 1910.16-1, Explanatory Comment; 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 4321, 4322, 4327; Blue v. Blue, 532 Pa. 521, 616 A.2d 628 (1992); Curtis v. Kline, 542 Pa. 249, 666 A.2d 265 (1995); Mazurek v. Russell, No. 2580 EDA 2013 (Pa. Super. June 24, 2014)

Moving away with a child. A move that significantly impairs the other party’s custody rights needs consent from everyone with custody rights or court approval. The moving party must send certified-mail notice 60 days ahead, or within 10 days of learning of the move if earlier notice was impossible. Others have 30 days to object. The moving party must prove the move serves the child’s best interest.
23 Pa.C.S. §§ 5322(a), 5337

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: six months. At least one spouse must have been a bona fide resident of Pennsylvania for six months immediately before filing. It does not matter whether the marriage or the cause for divorce occurred elsewhere. The statute adds no minimum time in a county.
23 Pa.C.S. § 3104(b), (c), (e)

How long it takes. One spouse can get a divorce over objection after one year apart if the court finds the marriage irretrievably broken; the complaint can be filed sooner. After the separation affidavit is served, court rules require 20 days before notice of intent and 20 more before the final filing. If reconciliation seems possible, a judge can add 90 to 120 days. The 90-day mutual consent route needs both spouses.
23 Pa.C.S. §§ 3103, 3301(c), (d); Pa.R.C.P. 1920.42(c)(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 405 days from arrival to a final decree (365 days apart + 20 + 20 court-rule notice periods; 180 days of residence fits inside). Courts often take longer.

If you moved here from another state

A prenup can keep the law of the state where it was signed. In 2003 the Pennsylvania Superior Court tested a prenup signed in New York under New York law in a Pennsylvania divorce, because New York had the most significant contacts with the agreement.
Sabad v. Fessenden, 825 A.2d 682 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2003)

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

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