Nevada Family Law Overview

By Ronald W. Brilliant, Attorney at Law · Licensed in Idaho, Nevada & California · Last reviewed: September 2026 against Nevada Revised Statutes Title 11, chapters 121 through 130 (current through the 2025 legislative session and 2026 special session revisions)

Much of Nevada family law is found in title 11 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, titled “Domestic Relations.” This overview covers getting married, domestic partnerships, the property rights of married couples, divorce, annulment, separate maintenance, alimony, child custody, child support, parentage and more. It explains those statutes in plain English, with a citation for every rule so you can read the law yourself.

The pages below are general information for anyone who is marrying, separating, raising children with a former partner, or trying to understand their rights under Nevada law.

Topics in This Overview

Forming a Marriage or Partnership

• Getting Married in Nevada: who may marry, marriage licenses, who may perform the ceremony, proof of marriage, and void and voidable marriages.
• Nevada Domestic Partnerships: who may register, rights and duties of domestic partners, out-of-state unions, and ending a partnership.
• Marital Property Rights in Nevada: community and separate property, management and control, and agreements between spouses.
• Premarital Agreements in Nevada: what a premarital agreement may cover, formal requirements, and enforcement.

Ending or Changing a Marriage

• Divorce in Nevada: residency, grounds, procedure, summary (joint petition) divorce, and the decree.
• Annulment and Separate Maintenance: grounds for annulment and support without a divorce.
• Property and Debt Division: how community property and debts are divided, and property left out of a decree.
• Alimony in Nevada: when alimony may be awarded, the factors a court considers, and modification.

Children and Parents

• Child Custody in Nevada: legal and physical custody, the best interest of the child, and presumptions.
• Visitation and Relocation: visitation, moving with a child, and grandparent and sibling visitation.
• Child Support in Nevada: the support obligation, orders, review and modification, and enforcement.
• Parentage in Nevada: establishing who a child’s parents are, presumptions and genetic testing.
• Interstate Child and Spousal Support: establishing, registering, enforcing and modifying support across state lines.
• Minors and Emancipation: the legal status of minors and how a minor may be emancipated.
• Child Abduction Prevention: court measures to prevent a child from being wrongfully taken.

Two related overviews cover adoption and interstate custody jurisdiction. Nevada Adoption explains the adoption chapters and termination of parental rights. Nevada Child Custody Jurisdiction (UCCJEA) explains which state’s courts may decide custody when a family has ties to more than one state.

A Few Core Ideas

Marriage requires a ceremony. In Nevada, marriage is a civil contract, but consent alone does not create a marriage; it must be followed by solemnization as chapter 122 of NRS provides (NRS 122.010(1)).

Domestic partners are treated like spouses. Except as provided in NRS 122A.210, registered domestic partners have the same rights, protections, benefits, responsibilities, obligations and duties under law as spouses (NRS 122A.200(1)(a)).

Property is community or separate. Property acquired after marriage by either or both spouses is generally community property, while property owned before marriage or acquired afterward by gift, bequest, devise, descent or a personal injury award is separate property (NRS 123.130; NRS 123.220). In a divorce, the court must, to the extent practicable, make an equal disposition of the community property unless it finds in writing a compelling reason not to (NRS 125.150(1)(b)).

Both parents have custody until a court decides otherwise. The parent and child relationship extends equally to every child and every parent, regardless of the parents’ marital status (NRS 125C.0015(1)). If no court has decided custody, each parent has joint legal custody and joint physical custody until a court orders otherwise (NRS 125C.0015(2)).

Children are provided for first. No court may grant a divorce, separate maintenance or annulment, if there are minor children of the relationship residing in Nevada, without first providing for their medical and other care, support, education and maintenance as chapter 125B of NRS requires (NRS 125.007(1)).

Are Family Court Cases Public?

A “family law proceeding” is any proceeding under title 11 of NRS (NRS 121.050). Unless a specific statute or court rule says otherwise, family law proceedings are presumptively open (NRS 121.100(1)). The court may close a proceeding, or part of one, only if closure is necessary to serve a compelling interest, and it must make written findings (NRS 121.100(2), (4)).

The summons and proof of service, any affidavit for publication, the pleadings, decrees and orders, and judgments must be open to public inspection in the clerk’s office (NRS 121.110(1)(a)). Certain records are not open to the public except by court order for good cause shown, including financial disclosure forms, child custody evaluations, medical records, confidential exhibits and sealed documents (NRS 121.110(1)(b)). All other court records are presumptively open, but the court may seal or redact them when justified by a compelling interest that outweighs the public interest in access, and protecting personal identifying information about a party or child is deemed such an interest (NRS 121.110(2), (3)).

Key Family Law Deadlines and Requirements

The table below collects some of the time periods and requirements stated in the Nevada family law statutes. Each linked page explains the rule and its exceptions in more detail.

Rule	Time period or requirement	NRS
Minimum age to marry	18 years; a 17-year-old may marry only with a parent’s or legal guardian’s consent and district court authorization	122.020(1); 122.025(1)
Marriage license expires	1 year after issuance	122.040(7)
Officiant delivers original marriage certificate to county clerk or recorder	Within 10 days after the marriage	122.130(1)
Witnesses at a wedding	At least one, besides the person performing the ceremony	122.110(2)
Minimum age to register a domestic partnership	18 years	122A.100(2)(d)
Simplified termination of a domestic partnership (with the Secretary of State)	Partnership registered for 5 years or less, plus other conditions	122A.300(3)
Residency for divorce	Unless the cause accrued in the county while both spouses were domiciled there, the plaintiff or defendant must have been a Nevada resident for at least 6 weeks before the action begins	125.020(2)
Divorce based on living apart	Spouses have lived separate and apart for 1 year without cohabitation (the court may, in its discretion, grant a divorce)	125.010(2)
Divorce based on insanity	Insanity existing for 2 years before the action begins	125.010(1)
Separate maintenance based on desertion	Desertion that has continued for 90 days	125.190
Annulling a marriage entered into outside Nevada	One party must have resided in Nevada for 6 weeks before the complaint is filed	125.370(2)
Annulment for lack of required consent to a minor’s marriage	Within 1 year after the person who lacked consent turns 18	125.320(2)
Motion to divide community property or debt omitted from a decree because of fraud or mistake	Within 3 years after the aggrieved party discovers the facts constituting the fraud or mistake	125.150(3)
Relocating with a child outside Nevada, or far enough to substantially impair the other parent’s relationship with the child, when primary or joint physical custody was set by a court order	Before relocating, attempt to get the other parent’s written consent and, if refused, petition the court	125C.006(1); 125C.0065(1)
Collecting child support arrearages under a court order	No time limit	125B.050(3)
A state’s “home state” status for a child custody case (see Home State Jurisdiction)	The child lived there with a parent or person acting as a parent for at least 6 consecutive months immediately before the case began (for a child under 6 months, since birth)	125A.085

For how a spouse’s or domestic partner’s death affects property and inheritance, see the Nevada probate overview, including Dying Without a Will in Nevada and Family Protections in Nevada Probate.

How I Can Help

I help Nevada clients understand how the family law statutes apply to their marriage, partnership, property and children, whether they are planning ahead or facing a divorce, custody or support matter. I can explain your options, prepare agreements and court papers, and represent you in family court. Request a consultation to discuss your situation.

This page provides general information about Nevada family law, based on the Nevada Revised Statutes as currently revised, and is not legal advice. Court rules, regulations (including the child support guidelines), and case law also affect family law matters. Every family is different; consult an attorney about your situation. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.