Title 15, Title 15 Relations

(a) All complaints for divorce from the bond of marriage and from bed and board and complaints for relief without commencement of divorce proceedings shall be filed in the county in which the plaintiff is residing, unless the complaint is based upon the residence of the defendant…

The court may, by general rule: (1) Determine the return day of complaints for divorce; (2) Prescribe the notice to be given, within or without the state, on all complaints for divorce; (3) May issue any process that may be necessary to carry into effect all powers conferred upon…

(a) Upon the filing of a complaint for divorce, divorce from bed and board, legal separation, annulment, custody or visitation by the plaintiff and upon service of the petition and summons of the defendant or upon waiver and acceptance of service by the parties, the automatic ord…

Whenever any petition for divorce has been filed or is pending in the family court, and the court is of the opinion that sufficient notice of the pendency of the petition has not, from any cause, been given to the adverse party, the court may order notice or further notice to the…

(a) In granting any petition for divorce, divorce from bed and board, or relief without the commencement of divorce proceedings, the family court may order either of the parties to pay alimony or counsel fees, or both, to the other. (b)(1) In determining the amount of alimony or …

(a) In addition to or in lieu of an order to pay spousal support made pursuant to a complaint for divorce, the court may assign to either the husband or wife a portion of the estate of the other. In determining the nature and value of the property, if any, to be assigned, the cou…

(a) As used in this section, the following words and terms have the following meanings unless the context indicates another or different meaning or intent: (1) “Custodial parent” means a party awarded physical custody of a child. (2) “Deferred sale of home order” means an order t…

(a) In a proceeding for divorce, divorce from bed and board, a miscellaneous petition without the filing of divorce proceedings, or child support, the court shall order either or both parents owing a duty of support to a child to pay an amount based upon a formula and guidelines …

Credit bureaus are required to take into consideration a non-custodial parent’s child support obligations and his or her delinquencies in this regard, and these delinquencies shall be verified by either the court or by the bureau of family support.

No employer in this state is permitted to refuse or obstruct the service of family court process relating to child or spousal support upon an employee at the place of employment and the service shall not be grounds for dismissal of the employee. The employer may designate an area…

In any matter related to child support or support for a custodial parent having custody of a minor child, except when a continuance is mutually agreed upon, the court may, in its discretion, order a party requesting a continuance to compensate the other party for wages lost as a …

Notwithstanding the provisions of § 15-5-16.2, the court, in its discretion, may modify a child support order retroactively only to the date that notice of a petition to modify was given to the adverse party if it finds that a substantial change in circumstances has occurred. The…

Any allowance or order made by the family court pursuant to §§ 15-5-16 and 15-5-16.2 shall be regarded as a judgment for debt so that suits may be brought or executions may issue on it for amounts due and unpaid, from time to time, to be shown by affidavits of the person entitled…

Whenever the assignment of real property is ordered by the family court pursuant to § 15-5-16.1 and the court directs that a deed, conveyance, or release of any real estate or interest in real estate shall be made, the judgment shall create an equitable right to its enforcement, …

Interest at the rate of twelve percent (12%) per annum on any support debt due or owing, child or spousal support, shall be assessed unless the responsible party shall, for good cause shown, be relieved of the obligation to pay interest by the family court.

(a) In a proceeding to enforce overdue support, as defined in subsection (b) of this section, the court or its magistrate, after a hearing and a finding of overdue support, may require an obligor parent to give security, post a bond, or give some other guarantee to secure payment…

(a) For purposes of this section, a “child support order” means a child support order enforceable pursuant to the Rhode Island state plan for support enforcement as further defined in § 15-16-5(a). (b) Every three (3) years from the date the child support order was established or…

Any person, to whom a divorce from the bond of marriage is decreed, shall, upon request, be authorized by the decree to change their name, notwithstanding that there may be children born of the marriage, and subject to the same rights and liabilities as if their name had not been…

After the filing and during the pendency of any petition for divorce, the court may make any interlocutory decrees and grant any temporary injunctions that may be necessary until a hearing can be had before the court.

(a) Whenever either party to a marriage is insane, or whenever a cause is in existence which is, or if continued, will be a cause for divorce, the family court, upon the original petition of one of the parties, or upon the filing of a complaint for divorce, may restrain either pa…

(a)(1) The clerk of the family court may, if requested by the prevailing party’s attorney, immediately forward a certified copy of any restraining order issued pursuant to § 15-5-19(a) to the police department of the municipality in which the prevailing party is domiciled, and th…

Divorces from the bond of marriage shall also be decreed for the following causes: (1) Impotency; (2) Adultery; (3) Extreme cruelty; (4) Willful desertion for five (5) years of either of the parties, or for willful desertion for a shorter period of time in the discretion of the c…

No person shall be entitled to a divorce from the bond of marriage unless the defendant, in accordance with rules adopted by the court, has been personally served with process if within the state, or with personal notice duly authenticated if out of the state, or unless the defen…

After service of process on any petition, whether by citation or by publication, where the adverse party has no attorney of record and cannot be found for the service of citation or notice of any motion or any other matter arising in the course of the proceedings, the court may o…

No divorce from the bond of marriage shall be granted solely upon default nor solely upon admissions by the pleadings, except upon trial before the court in open session; nor shall the divorce be granted where the court is satisfied that there has been any collusion or corrupt co…

(a) No judgment for a divorce shall become final and operative until three (3) months after the trial and decision. Final decree from the bond of marriage may be entered ex parte and in chambers on the suggestion of the prevailing party at any time within one hundred eighty (180)…

(a) With respect to a support order issued, enforced, or modified on or after January 1, 1994, the income of an obligor shall be subject to immediate income withholding under chapter 16 of this title on the effective date of the order, regardless of whether support payments by th…

The court may, upon miscellaneous petition of a grandparent whose child is deceased, grant reasonable visitation rights of the grandchild or grandchildren to the grandparent, whether or not any divorce or custody proceedings were ever commenced, and may issue all necessary orders…

In any divorce proceeding the family court may, upon petition of a grandparent whose grandchild is a child of the marriage, grant reasonable visitation rights of the grandchild to the grandparent. The court may issue all necessary orders to enforce visitation rights. Once a grand…

(a)(1) The family court, upon miscellaneous petition of a grandparent for visitation rights with the petitioner’s grandchild, and upon notice to both parents of the child, and after a hearing on the petition, may grant reasonable rights of visitation of the grandchild to the peti…

(a) The family court, upon miscellaneous petition of a brother, sister, half-brother or half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or on behalf of any of those persons by his or her legal guardian, for visitation rights for the petitioner’s sibling, half-sibling or stepsibling and upo…

No court shall make an order providing visitation rights to a parent who has been convicted of murder in the first degree of the other parent of the child who is the subject of the order, unless that court first conducts a hearing in order to determine whether the child is of an …

(a)(1) In cases where a wage withholding has not been secured pursuant to § 15-5-24, upon application of the child or of any person having a direct interest in the welfare of the child, or any person to whom support is owed pursuant to court order, the court, pursuant to this sec…

(a) Any wage withholding agent failing to comply with any requirements in §§ 15-5-24 and 15-5-25 may be punished by the court for civil contempt. The court shall first afford the wage withholding agent a reasonable opportunity to purge itself of contempt. (b) Any wage withholding…

An order for wage withholding under §§ 15-5-24 and 15-5-25 shall remain in effect until modified or terminated by the court.

(a) A certified copy of any judgment or order which contains a provision adjudging a party to the action in contempt for failure to pay any support payment, or which states an arrearage due on any support payment or payments, may be recorded with the recorder of deeds in any city…

(a) Where, in any petition for divorce, divorce from bed and board, or relief without the commencement of divorce proceedings, the family court may, as to issues of custody and visitation, direct the parties to participate in mediation in an effort to resolve their differences, t…

(a) Whenever, in the trial of any complaint for divorce from the bond of marriage or any complaint for dissolution of a marriage, it shall be alleged in the complaint that the parties have lived separate and apart from each other for the space of at least three (3) years, whether…

(a) A divorce from the bonds of matrimony shall be decreed, irrespective of the fault of either party, on the ground of irreconcilable differences which have caused the irremediable breakdown of the marriage. (b) In any pleading or hearing for divorce under this section, allegati…

(a) In awarding sole possession or ownership of a domestic companion animal in a divorce or separation proceeding, the court shall consider the best interest of the animal and shall consider, but not be limited to, the following: (1) Which party owned the animal first or whether …

Whenever it appears that the absence, adultery, cruelty, desertion, or other cause of complaint was committed or occasioned by the collusion of the parties, and done or contrived with an intention to procure a divorce, no divorce shall be decreed.

Whenever the act or acts giving rise to the cause for divorce are of a nature that the complaining party could not ordinarily produce corroborating testimony, the court may, in its discretion, if it is satisfied of the existence of the cause in question, the proof in other respec…

Divorces from bed, board, and future cohabitation, until the parties are reconciled, may be granted for any of the causes for which by law a divorce from the bond of marriage may be decreed, and for other causes which may seem to require a divorce from bed and board; provided, th…