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You can essentially get divorced in Washington almost immediately, without having to wait for the 90-day cooling-off period. That is if you call your divorce a “legal separation“. You can get a legal separation often the same day you petition if the parties agree on the terms.

If you and your spouse agree on all the issues—the division of property, child custody, support payments, and any other topics—you qualify for an uncontested divorce. This is most common in shorter marriages with no children and little or no shared property to split up.

On average, an uncontested divorce will take three months, while a contested divorce may take a year or even longer. Generally, a longer, more complicated divorce is more expensive, while an uncontested divorce or a divorce handled through divorce mediation is shorter and less expensive.

You do not need your spouse's signature for a divorce in Washington. Washington is a no-fault state, which means that both spouses need not agree to the divorce for the court to grant it.

To start a dissolution proceeding, one spouse (called the “petitioner”) must file with the court a summons and “petition” for dissolution of marriage. This document is then served on the other spouse (known as the “respondent”), usually by having copies delivered to him or her.

In Washington State, after six months, a legal separation can be easily transitioned to divorce. With this method, you and your spouse resolve all of the issues by creating a separation agreement. That agreement is converted to a divorce decree when one or both parties choose to do so.

There are nine community property states where married couples need Form 8958 if they file separate returns. Domestic partnerships in community property states like California, Nevada, Washington, and Wisconsin typically need to use Form 8958 to allocate their income.

When it makes sense to be Married Filing Separately, despite disadvantages. Again, there's no penalty for the Married Filing Separately tax status. And though there are disadvantages to Married Filing Separately, there are a couple of situations where you still might want to do that instead of filing jointly.

Married filing separately is the ideal tax filing status if both spouses want to keep their tax liabilities separate. But if you file separate returns, you miss out on a number of tax credits and deductions that are meant for married couples, such as the earned income tax credit and the American Opportunity Tax Credit.