• Alimony and divorce laws in Arkansas are covered by the Family Law section of the Arkansas State Code. These laws give the guidelines for courts to follow in divorce cases, although in some instances, such as deciding who gets alimony and how much alimony will be paid, the presiding judges are given considerable discretion.
  
  

Grounds

• According to the state code of Arkansas legitimate grounds for divorce in the state of Arkansas include: conviction of a felony, impotence at the time of the marriage and subsequently, habitual drunkenness for a period of one year, cruel treatment that endangers the life of the other party; adultery, when the parties have lived separately for at least 18 months or when a spouse who is legally obligated and financially able to support the other spouse refuses to do so.
  
  

Plaintiff Must Prove

• To obtain a divorce under Arkansas law, the plaintiff in a divorce case must prove that either the plaintiff or the the defendant resided in the state for 60 days immediately preceding the divorce filing. Also, either the plaintiff or defendant needs to reside in the state for three months immediately preceding the granting of the divorce. If the defendant does not appear before the court then the plaintiff must reside in the state for three full months prior to the granting of a divorce decree. The plaintiff must also prove the the cause of the divorce occurred in Arkansas or, if it occurred in another state, that the cause would be grounds for divorce in Arkansas. The cause of the divorce must have occurred within five years of the filing as well.
  
  

Alimony

• Section 9-12 -312 of the Arkansas code gives the presiding court the power to grant alimony to either party in a divorce, depending on the circumstances of the parties and the nature of the case. It also says that the alimony is discontinued if the party receiving the alimony remarries or if the recipient of the alimony enters into a relationship which produces a child, which results in a court order that directs the alimony recipient to either pay alimony to or receive alimony from another individual. Arkansas divorce law considers the latter case the equivalent of remarriage.
  
  

Waiting Period

• Under section 9 -12 310 of the Arkansas code, the court will not grant a divorce until at least 30 days have passed since the divorce action was filed except in the following cases: the grounds for the divorce are bigamy, the spouses have lived apart for at least 12 months immediately preceding the filing of the divorce petition, the defendant is summoned to appear before the court by the publication of a warning order. This waiting period is not subject to waiver by the parties involved.