Simple Divorce in New York With No Children and No Property

A divorce with no children under 21 and no shared property to divide is the simplest version of a New York divorce — but "simplest" doesn't mean "simple." You still file in the Supreme Court, still pay court fees, still need proper service of process, and still need to navigate the same clerk review process that trips up filers with more complex cases. Here's what the streamlined version actually looks like.

What Makes It Simpler

When there are no minor children and no marital property to divide, you skip several of the most complex parts of a standard divorce:

• No child support worksheet (Form UD-8(3)) — this eliminates the CSSA calculation and one of the most common sources of clerk rejection
• No custody stipulation — no parenting plan, no visitation schedule, no Form UD-8b
• No equitable distribution — no property classification, no asset valuation, no QDRO for retirement accounts
• No maintenance in most cases — though this isn't automatic; a short marriage with no children and no property usually doesn't involve maintenance, but either party can still request it

You may also qualify for the Joint Uncontested Divorce program, where both spouses file together as co-petitioners using a joint summons. This waives formal service of process, eliminates the defendant's response window, and eliminates the 40-day default waiting period — meaning the packet can go straight to a judge for review.

What You Still Need

Even with the simplest possible divorce, the filing requirements are non-negotiable:

Residency. You must meet one of the five DRL 230 residency tests. The fastest path: both spouses are New York residents on the filing date and the grounds arose in New York (no minimum duration required). Otherwise, you need one or two years of continuous residency depending on your marriage's connection to the state.

Grounds. Most simple divorces use the no-fault ground under DRL 170(7) — one spouse swears under oath that the relationship has broken down irretrievably for at least six months.

Court fees. The minimum fees are $210 for the index number plus $125 for the Request for Judicial Intervention and Note of Issue — $335 total. If you qualify for a fee waiver (income at or near the federal poverty level of $15,960), you can file a motion to waive these costs.

Service of process. Unless you're filing a joint divorce, you must have a third party over 18 personally serve the defendant within 120 days. You cannot serve the papers yourself.

The full uncontested divorce packet. Even without children or property, you still submit: the Summons, the Sworn Statement of Removal of Barriers to Remarriage (Form UD-4), the Affirmation of Regularity (Form UD-5), the Plaintiff's Affidavit (Form UD-6), the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (Form UD-10), the proposed Judgment of Divorce (Form UD-11), and the Note of Issue (Form UD-9) with the Request for Judicial Intervention (Form UD-13).

The DIY Uncontested Divorce Program

The New York Unified Court System offers an online DIY Uncontested Divorce Program specifically for divorces with no children under 21 where the marriage has been over for at least six months. The program generates populated forms based on your answers to a guided questionnaire.

The catch: the program produces the forms but doesn't teach you how to assemble, file, or serve them. You still need to understand the filing sequence, the service rules, the 40-day default clock (if your spouse doesn't sign the UD-7), and the physical packaging requirements. Clerks reject DIY program output just as readily as hand-prepared packets when the assembly is wrong.

Common Pitfalls in Simple Divorces

Assuming "no property" means nothing to address. If you have any joint bank accounts, shared debts, joint credit cards, or a joint lease, those are marital obligations that need to be resolved. The court wants to see that all loose ends are tied up — even in a simple case.

Forgetting maintenance. Just because there are no children and no property doesn't mean maintenance is off the table. If one spouse earns significantly more than the other and the marriage lasted several years, the lower-earning spouse may still be entitled to maintenance under the statutory formula.

Skipping the separation agreement. Many people filing a simple divorce think they don't need a written agreement because there's "nothing to divide." Even in a no-property divorce, a brief stipulation confirming that both parties waive maintenance, that no marital property exists, and that no debts are jointly held gives the court the documentation it needs and prevents post-judgment disputes.

The New York Divorce Filing Process Guide includes a simplified filing sequence for no-children, no-property divorces, with a quick-audit checklist to confirm your case qualifies for the streamlined track.

See more New York guides →