How to Fill Out and File a Tennessee Complaint for Divorce

To open a divorce case in Tennessee, you file a Complaint for Divorce — the court-approved form calls it a Request for Divorce — with the Circuit or Chancery Court clerk in the correct county, pay the filing fee, and have your spouse served with a copy and a summons. Before you write anything on the form, decide which grounds you are using, because that choice controls the rest of the paperwork.

Who Can File and Where

At least one spouse must have lived in Tennessee for six consecutive months before the complaint is filed. ¹ That rule still applies when the events leading to the divorce happened while both spouses lived elsewhere; someone has to have been a Tennessee resident for the six months immediately before filing.

You cannot file in just any courthouse. The court-approved form gives you three options: the county where you and your spouse lived when you separated, the county where your spouse currently lives, or the county where you live if your spouse no longer lives in Tennessee or is incarcerated. ² Picking the wrong county can delay the case. Check the box that matches your facts.

Decide Your Grounds Before You Fill Anything In

Tennessee recognizes fifteen separate grounds for divorce, and most filers use one of two paths. ³

Irreconcilable Differences

This is the no-fault option, and it has a catch that trips people up: both spouses must agree. You cannot force a divorce through on irreconcilable differences if the other side contests it. You also have to give the court a written agreement, often called a marital dissolution agreement, covering custody, child support, division of property and debts, and alimony. The judge reviews it and can reject terms that are not adequate or equitable. ⁴

Fault-Based Grounds

When your spouse will not cooperate, or when misconduct is central to the case, you file on a fault ground. The statutory list includes adultery, inappropriate marital conduct, habitual intoxication or drug abuse that developed after the marriage, desertion for at least one year, conviction of a felony with a prison sentence, and attempted murder of the other spouse, among others. ³ One ground is enough, but you can allege more than one. Use language that closely tracks the statute.

Two years of continuous separation with no cohabitation is its own ground, but only for couples with no minor children. ³

The court-approved packets on the Tennessee Courts website are built for agreed divorces. If your spouse will not cooperate, or you are filing on fault grounds, you will likely need to draft the complaint yourself or work with an attorney.

Information the Complaint Must Contain

Tennessee law is specific about what has to appear in the complaint. For both spouses you must list: ⁵

The husband’s full name and the wife’s full maiden name.
Current mailing addresses.
Dates and places of birth.
Race or color of each spouse.
The number of previous marriages for each spouse.
The date and place of the current marriage.
The number of children under eighteen at the time of filing, plus information about any other custody proceedings involving those children in any state.

Separately, you give the clerk a sealed sheet containing the Social Security numbers, full names, current mailing addresses, and dates of birth of both spouses and all children born of the marriage. The clerk stamps it, seals it in an envelope, and keeps it in the case file for processing documents like income assignments and garnishments. It does not go in the public record. ⁵

Completing and Signing the Form

The Tennessee Supreme Court has approved standardized divorce forms that every court in the state must accept when they are completed correctly. ⁶ Download them from the Tennessee Courts website or pick them up at your courthouse.

The top of the form, called the case style, asks for the court name, the county, and the names of the parties. You are the Plaintiff; your spouse is the Defendant. Leave the case number blank. The clerk assigns it at filing. Work through the body of the form using the information above: residency, marriage date, grounds, and whether children are involved.

If you are filing on fault grounds, you must sign the complaint under oath before a notary public, a general sessions judge, or the judge or clerk of the court where you are filing, swearing the facts are true. ⁷ The court-approved form has a sworn verification section with a notary block. ² Complaints filed solely on irreconcilable differences are exempt from this verification requirement, though the form still provides the notary block.

Filing with the Clerk and Paying the Fee

Take the signed complaint to the Circuit or Chancery Court clerk in your chosen county. Both courts handle divorces; the pick often comes down to local practice or docket length. The clerk stamps the original with the filing date (which starts the clock on response deadlines and the waiting period) and issues a summons for your spouse.

The statutory base court cost is $200 for divorces involving minor children and $125 for those without. ⁸ What you actually hand over at the window is higher, because the total includes state and county litigation taxes and other surcharges. In Davidson County, the 2026 total is $309.50 with minor children and $234.50 without, before any service-of-process fees. ⁹ Other counties will be different. Call the clerk or check the website for the current number before you go.

If you cannot afford the fee, submit a Uniform Civil Affidavit of Indigency asking the court to waive costs. You swear under oath that you cannot bear the expenses of the case, and a judge decides. ¹⁰

Leave the clerk’s office with enough stamped copies to serve your spouse.

Getting the Papers to Your Spouse

Filing is only half the job. Your spouse must receive a copy of the complaint and the summons before the case can move forward. Tennessee allows three main methods:

Personal delivery by a sheriff, constable, or private process server. If the defendant avoids service, the server can leave copies at the defendant’s home with any person of suitable age who lives there.¹¹
Certified or registered mail with return receipt requested, sent by you, your attorney, or another authorized person.¹¹
Waiver and acceptance, where a cooperative spouse signs a document voluntarily accepting service.

A written notice of the statutory injunctions described below has to be attached to the complaint and summons when they are served. ⁵

What Takes Effect When Your Spouse Is Served

Once the complaint is filed and your spouse has been personally served or has accepted service, a set of automatic injunctions binds both of you. They are not optional. They stay in place until the divorce is finalized, the case is dismissed, or a judge lifts them. Both spouses are prohibited from: ⁵

Transferring, borrowing against, hiding, or disposing of marital property without the other spouse’s consent or a court order. Spending from current income on ordinary living expenses and routine business costs is still allowed.
Canceling, modifying, or letting lapse any insurance policy, including life, health, auto, homeowners, and disability, that covers either spouse or the children.
Threatening or assaulting the other spouse, or making disparaging remarks about them to the children or to either spouse’s employer.
Hiding, deleting, or spoiling electronically stored information, including data on computer hard drives and other storage devices.
Moving the children out of state or more than fifty miles from the marital home without the other parent’s permission or a court order.

Violating any of these can lead to a contempt finding. After service, neither spouse should make a major financial or parenting move without written consent from the other or an order from the judge.

Response Deadline and Waiting Period

Your spouse has thirty days from service to file an answer. ¹² If they file nothing, you can ask the court to enter a default and proceed on the terms in your complaint, though the judge still has to wait out the statutory cooling-off period before signing a final decree.

That cooling-off period runs from the filing date. Without minor children, it is sixty days. With minor children, it is ninety days. ³ Those are minimums. Contested cases routinely run much longer.

Extra Requirements When Children Are Involved

If you have minor children, two more pieces have to be in place before the court will finalize anything.

First, a permanent parenting plan. It sets the residential schedule, decision-making authority, holiday arrangements, and child support. In an agreed divorce you submit a joint plan. In a contested case each side proposes one and the judge decides based on the children’s best interests.

Second, both parents must complete a parenting education seminar of at least four hours. The seminar covers protecting a child’s emotional health during divorce, the legal process, and dispute resolution options. Individual courts can require more. Family counseling or private therapy does not substitute. Skipping the seminar can lead to a contempt finding, and in contested cases a judge can hold a parent’s refusal to attend against them in custody decisions. ¹³ Your clerk’s office can give you a list of approved providers.

1
Justia. Tennessee Code 36-4-104 – Residence Requirements
2
Tennessee Courts. Tennessee Request for Divorce Form 1
3
Justia. Tennessee Code 36-4-101 – Grounds for Divorce From Bonds of Matrimony
4
FindLaw. Tennessee Code 36-4-103 – Irreconcilable Differences
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Justia. Tennessee Code 36-4-106 – Complaint for Divorce or Legal Separation – Temporary Injunctions
6
Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Court-Approved Divorce Forms
7
Justia. Tennessee Code 36-4-107 – Verification of Petition
8
Justia. Tennessee Code 8-21-401 – Schedule of Fees
9
Nashville Circuit Court Clerk. Circuit Court Filing Fees (Effective January 1, 2026)
10
Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Rule 29 – Uniform Civil Affidavit of Indigency
11
Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Rule 4.04 – Service Upon Defendants Within the State
12
Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Rule 12.01 – When Presented
13
Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Parenting Education Seminar