Meaning of Reno divorce | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A divorce obtained in Reno, Nevada, prior to the widespread institution of no-fault divorce in the 1970s United States. Prior to this, many states imposed onerous requirements on the granting of divorces, while Nevada's (as well as some other states') were relatively lax. Nevada required only six months of residency in the state to establish legal residency (which allowed people to bring cases in its courts), a period further lowered to six weeks in 1931, leading many people seeking divorces to temporarily move to Nevada for this purpose.
   US, colloquial, dated, historical
2. An easily-obtained divorce; a divorce with relatively few prerequisites, such as a short period of residency in the jurisdiction.
   US, colloquial, dated, metonymically

Examples

“But I still recalled her threat to harass and annoy with litigation unless I obtained a Reno divorce against her. I was, therefore, left with no other alternative but to go through with the Reno divorce action without her appearance therein.”

“In 1931, to capitalize on the income potential from being the country's new divorce mecca, the Nevada legislature shortened the residency period from six months to a mere six weeks, putting a Reno divorce within the financial reach of the average person.”

“Because Reno was Nevada's largest and most sophisticated city, to Reno they came—first Laura Corey to divorce the philandering president of U.S. Steel, then other members of New York society, and then journalists to report on the phenomenon of “going to Reno”. Reno divorces were news in the society pages of eastern newspapers by the early teens[…]”

CEFR level