What is a divorce decree in washington a divorce decree is the courts final order that terminates a marriage it provides a summary of the rights and responsibilities of each party including financial responsibilities and a division of assets it also covers child custody visitation alimony child support and other similar issues. There is a minimum waiting period of 3 months from the date the divorce petition is filed with the court and served on your spouse and before the court can finalize your divorce grounds for divorce washington is completely a no fault divorce state and the only reason or ground for divorce is that your marriage is broken irretrievably washington does not let couples to assign blame or get into the reasons why the marriage broke down. Beginners guide to washington divorce laws marriages or domestic partnerships in washington can end through an annulment legal separation or a divorce also known as a dissolution of marriage washington is a no fault state and one spouse or the other only needs to claim that a marriage is irretrievably broken to start the divorce process. How to file for divorce in washington this process is fairly simple one of the spouses will file for divorce through the courts once they have filled out all the paperwork and turned it into the courts the courts will then serve it to the other spouse you have to file for divorce in the current county you live in