GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT · FAMILY LAW + FAMILY-VIOLENCE DEFENSE
Most people arrive at a divorce with a version of the law in their head that they picked up somewhere, and in Connecticut that version is usually wrong in the same three places. The state does not split everything down the middle. It does not protect the money you brought into the marriage. And it does not have a formula that tells you what alimony will be.
This page explains how divorce actually works in Connecticut — the process, the deadlines, and the decisions that shape the outcome.
Attorney Daniel M. Morton handles divorce matters from an office in Glastonbury, in the Hartford Judicial District and the surrounding courts.
No. Connecticut divides marital property equitably, which means fairly given the circumstances — not equally.
Under C.G.S. §46b-81, a Connecticut judge weighs the length of the marriage, the causes of the breakdown, each spouse’s age, health, occupation, income, earning capacity, vocational skills, education, and employability, each spouse’s estate and needs, the opportunity each has to acquire assets in the future, and each spouse’s contribution to acquiring or preserving the marital estate. There is no presumption that an equal split is correct.
In practice, long marriages with similar contributions often end near an even division. Short marriages, second marriages, and marriages where one spouse arrived with substantially more frequently do not.
Yes — and this surprises nearly everyone.
Connecticut is what practitioners call an all-property state. Section 46b-81 permits the court to assign to either spouse “all or any part of the estate of the other.” There is no separate category of protected property. Assets you owned before the wedding, money you inherited, and gifts made to you alone are all within the court’s reach.
That does not mean those assets get divided. Where property came from is one of the factors a judge weighs, and premarital or inherited assets that were kept separate and never mixed into the marriage often stay with the spouse who brought them. But the outcome depends on the judge’s discretion, not on a rule that puts them off-limits.
This is the single biggest difference between Connecticut and most other states, and it is why national articles about “separate property” mislead people here. It is also the strongest practical argument for a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, which is the one reliable way to take assets off the table in advance.
There is no formula.
Connecticut has guidelines for child support. It has nothing equivalent for alimony. Under C.G.S. §46b-82, the court considers the length of the marriage, the causes of the breakdown, and each spouse’s age, health, station, occupation, income, earning capacity, vocational skills, education, employability, estate, and needs — and, where one parent has custody of minor children, whether it is desirable for that parent to work.
Two points follow. First, online alimony calculators are predicting what a judge might do, not applying a rule; they can be a useful sanity check and nothing more. Second, fault matters. “The causes for the dissolution” is a statutory factor, so conduct that ended the marriage can affect an alimony award in a way it cannot in many other states.
Alimony can be periodic, lump-sum, or rehabilitative for a fixed term, and whether it can be changed later depends on what the judgment says. If a judgment makes alimony non-modifiable, it generally stays put no matter what happens afterward.
Connecticut no longer has a general 90-day waiting period. That rule was removed effective October 1, 2023, and most pages you will find on this subject — including other firms’ — have not caught up.
Under the current version of C.G.S. §46b-67, the court may proceed on the complaint after the second day following the return date. What remains are narrower timing rules:
So an agreed case where both spouses have exchanged financial disclosure and settled everything can now move considerably faster than it once could. A contested case involving a disputed business valuation, a custody evaluation, or a spouse who will not produce documents still runs a year or more — the delay comes from the dispute, not from a statute.
A narrow category of cases can move faster. Connecticut’s nonadversarial divorce track can conclude in roughly 35 days with no court appearance, but the eligibility rules are strict: the marriage must be under nine years, there can be no children, neither spouse may own real property, the combined value of everything owned must fall under $80,000, neither spouse may have a defined-benefit pension, and there can be no pending bankruptcy or restraining orders between the parties.
Most people who ask about “quick online divorce” in Connecticut do not qualify. The ones who do should know the option exists.
No. Connecticut is a no-fault state, and the ground almost everyone uses is that the marriage has broken down irretrievably (C.G.S. §46b-40). You do not have to prove your spouse did anything wrong, and your spouse cannot prevent the divorce by disagreeing that the marriage is over.
Fault grounds still exist in the statute — adultery, intolerable cruelty, wilful desertion, and others — and are occasionally pleaded. More often, conduct enters the case through the statutory factors for property division and alimony rather than as a formal ground.
The moment a Connecticut divorce is filed and served, a set of court orders binds both spouses without anyone asking for them. They are in Practice Book §25-5, and they matter more than most people realize.
While the case is pending, neither spouse may:
A spouse who moves out of the family home must notify the other in writing within 48 hours.
Violating these is punishable by contempt. Emptying an account or moving money “before it gets frozen” is one of the more damaging things a person can do early in a case, and it is usually done by someone who did not know the orders existed.
Options are usually to sell and split the proceeds, or for one spouse to keep it and offset the other’s share with a buyout or other assets. Keeping it depends on qualifying to refinance alone — which is a financing question as much as a legal one.
The marital portion of a 401(k), pension, or IRA is divisible. Dividing an employer plan generally takes a separate order — a QDRO — entered after the judgment. QDROs are a frequent post-judgment failure point: the divorce finishes, the order never gets drafted, and years later the money is not where anyone thought.
A business built during the marriage is part of the estate and has to be valued. Whether a business owned before the marriage is exposed, and to what extent, turns on how it grew and on the all-property rule above.
The honest answer is that it depends on how much of it is contested, and that the two spouses control most of that.
The largest cost drivers are disputes that require experts — business valuations, real estate appraisals, custody evaluations — and discovery fights over documents that were going to come out anyway. A case resolved through negotiation costs a fraction of one that goes to trial on contested financial orders.
Attorney Morton discusses fee structure at the consultation, before anyone is asked to commit to anything.
If you live in Glastonbury, your divorce is filed and heard in the Hartford Judicial District at 90 Washington Street in Hartford. The building across the street at 95 Washington Street handles civil matters, not family — self-represented parties turn up at the wrong one regularly.
The Hartford Judicial District also covers Bloomfield, East Granby, East Hartford, East Windsor, Enfield, Hartford, Manchester, Marlborough, South Windsor, Suffield, West Hartford, Windsor, and Windsor Locks.
Nearby towns sit in different districts. Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, and Newington are in the New Britain Judicial District. Middletown, Cromwell, and Portland are in the Middlesex Judicial District, which is also where the Regional Family Trial Docket hears fully contested custody trials referred from other districts.
An arrest during a separation puts two cases in motion at once. A protective order entered at a criminal arraignment can restrict where you live and when you see your children before the family court has decided anything, and statements made in one case can surface in the other.
This firm handles both. If your divorce is running alongside a family-violence charge or a restraining order application, that overlap should be managed deliberately rather than by two lawyers who have never spoken.
Connecticut is not a 50/50 state, and the court can reach any asset either spouse owns. How §46b-81 equitable distribution actually works.
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Connecticut courts can reach inherited and premarital property. What that means in practice, and what actually protects an asset.
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The moment a Connecticut divorce is filed and served, court orders bind both spouses. What Practice Book §25-5 restricts, and what violating it costs.
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Connecticut removed its 90-day waiting period in 2023. What an uncontested divorce now involves, how long it takes, and what makes a case stop being uncontested.
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Connecticut’s simplified divorce track can finish without a court appearance — but the eligibility rules are strict. The full list, current as of 2026.
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Connecticut has no alimony formula. What judges actually weigh under §46b-82, the types of alimony, and when an award can be changed later.
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What actually happens in a contested Connecticut divorce, stage by stage, and what drives the cost.
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Connecticut is a no-fault state, but fault grounds remain in the statute — and conduct can still affect the financial outcome.
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Complex Connecticut divorces turn on valuation, characterization, and disclosure — and Connecticut’s all-property rule reaches everything.
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How a Connecticut divorce treats a closely held business — valuation, buyouts, and the risks to partners and employees who are not parties.
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How Connecticut divides retirement assets, why a QDRO is a separate order, and the failure that surfaces years later.
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How Connecticut legal separation works, how it converts to a divorce, and when an annulment is available instead.
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Daniel M. Morton has been admitted in Connecticut since 2017 and has roughly a decade of litigation experience, including extensive first-chair work in contested divorce, custody, post-judgment, and complex financial matters. He is a Glastonbury native and practices from an office on Main Street.
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No. Connecticut divides property equitably rather than equally, weighing the statutory factors in C.G.S. §46b-81. There is no presumption of an even split.
No. If one spouse states the marriage has broken down irretrievably, the court can dissolve it. A spouse can contest the financial and custody terms, not the fact of the divorce.
Not automatically. Connecticut permits the court to assign any property either spouse owns, including inherited and premarital assets. Whether it is divided depends on the circumstances, including whether it was kept separate.
Connecticut removed its general 90-day waiting period effective October 1, 2023. The court may now proceed shortly after the return date. Narrower rules still apply: 30 or 60 days where the other spouse does not appear, depending on how they were served, and 90 days before a contested trial may begin.
It can. “The causes for the dissolution” is a statutory factor in both property division and alimony, so conduct can influence the financial outcome even though Connecticut is a no-fault state.
In most divorces, yes, though often briefly and sometimes only once if everything is agreed. The nonadversarial track can resolve without a court appearance for couples who qualify.
Every case starts with a conversation about what you’re facing and what it would take to handle it.
