Archive note: This post was published on October 10, 2016, and describes the law at that time. Act 102 of 2016 applies the one-year period to separations that began after its effective date, whatever the filing date, and 23 Pa.C.S. § 3301(d) now requires that the parties have lived separate and apart for at least one year.
On October 3, 2016, Governor Wolf signed House Bill 380, which reduces the waiting period for no-fault, contested divorce cases in Pennsylvania to ONE-YEAR.
The change will become effective 60 days after it was signed, so all cases filed on or after December 4, 2016 will be subject to the new law.
All cases filed prior to this time will be subject to the prior waiting period of two-years.
This change should be carefully considered by those persons contemplating filing a Divorce Complaint in any county in Pennsylvania in the next month or two since the timing of the filing could greatly affect certain aspects of the case, most notably the duration of the receipt of, or obligation to pay spousal support or APL.
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