Uncontested Divorce in Tennessee: Irreconcilable Differences and the Marital Dissolution Agreement

In Tennessee, an uncontested divorce almost always means a divorce on the ground of irreconcilable differences. You and your spouse settle everything in a written marital dissolution agreement (MDA). If you have minor children, you also sign a permanent parenting plan. The judge reviews both at a short final hearing, after the 60- or 90-day wait.

What the judge must find

The agreement isn't a formality. Section 36-4-103(b) says:

No divorce shall be granted on the ground of irreconcilable differences unless the court affirmatively finds in its decree that the parties have made adequate and sufficient provision by written agreement for the custody and maintenance of any children of that marriage and for the equitable settlement of any property rights between the parties.

If the judge isn't satisfied, the case is continued so you can fix the agreement. If you are both at the hearing, you can accept the judge's changes then and there, and the amended agreement becomes part of the decree.

Signing instead of being served

Your spouse doesn't have to be formally served. Under § 36-4-103(a)(2), your spouse can sign a notarized MDA that names the pending case by court and docket number, or says your spouse knows one will be filed in Tennessee, and that waives further service and an answer. That signature counts as an appearance and an answer. The waiver has a shelf life:

Such waiver of service shall be valid for a period of one hundred eighty (180) days from the date the last party signs the agreement.

So don't sign the agreement long before you file. The court packets warn that if more than 180 days have passed since the last signature by the time you set the hearing, you must sign a new agreement.

If your spouse objects

Irreconcilable differences works only by agreement. If your spouse contests or denies that ground, the court can't grant a divorce on it unless a properly executed marital dissolution agreement is presented (§ 36-4-103(e)). Without one, the case proceeds on a fault ground or to trial.

The court-approved agreed-divorce forms

The Tennessee Supreme Court approved two packets of plain-language forms, and its forms page says they are "universally acceptable as legally sufficient": every Tennessee court that hears divorces must accept them if they're filled out correctly. There is one packet for couples without children (January 2018) and one packet for couples with children (effective January 11, 2018).

You can use a packet only if all of this is true:

• You both want the divorce and agree on everything, and you will both sign the Divorce Agreement.
• You meet the residency rule the packet describes.
• Neither of you is pregnant.
• You don't own buildings or land, or a business, together, and neither of you has retirement benefits.
• For the no-children packet: you have no children together who are under 18, in high school or disabled.

If any of these isn't true, the packets tell you not to use them. A house, a pension or a business doesn't stop an uncontested divorce; it means your MDA has to be drafted for your case, usually by a lawyer.

Step by step with the packets

1. Fill out and file the Request for Divorce (Form 1) with the clerk, with the Spouses' Personal Information (Form 2), which collects your identifying details. If you can't pay the fee up front, file Form 3 to ask the court to let you pay later.
2. Send the Health Insurance Notice (Form 4) as its instructions say.
3. File the Divorce Agreement (Form 5), the proposed Final Decree (Form 6) and the Restraining Order for Divorcing Spouses (Form 7). With children, add the Permanent Parenting Plan and the Child Support Worksheet; both parents must also take a parent education class unless the court excuses you.
4. Wait at least 60 days after filing (90 with minor children), then ask the clerk for a hearing date and, if needed, file the Notice of Hearing (Form 8) and mail your spouse a copy.
5. Go to the final hearing. The spouse who filed must attend; some counties require both. The judge reviews the forms and, if they're adequate, signs the decree.
6. Get a certified copy of the signed decree from the clerk, especially if your name was restored.

Default

If your spouse is served and doesn't answer within 30 days (Rule 12.01), you can apply for a default judgment. Every party you seek a default against must get written notice of the application at least five days before the hearing, unless service was by publication and that party never appeared (Rule 55.01). In an irreconcilable-differences case where your spouse was personally served, § 36-4-103(d) lets the court take the complaint as confessed without corroborating testimony. A default doesn't shorten the 60- or 90-day wait.

Mediation

Tennessee courts order divorcing spouses to mediate, though the court can waive or extend that for reasons such as a spouse's inability to afford it (§ 36-4-131). Filing a properly executed MDA, and a parenting plan if you have minor children, removes that requirement. If the court rejects either one, the mediation requirement comes back (§ 36-4-103(g)).

Where these sections live

• Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-4-103 (2021 Code Bill)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-4-131 (2023 Code Bill)
• Court-approved divorce forms
• Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12 — answer
• Tenn. R. Civ. P. 55 — default