Divorce Grounds

Answers to key questions a spouse may have about the grounds for divorce. No marriage may be ended without grounds, and people who contemplate ending a marriage need to know about them. Throughout this section we refer to spouses, mothers, fathers, children, attorneys, and judges. In most cases, we have attempted to do so in a gender-neutral fashion.

• What are grounds for divorce?
• Do there have to be grounds for a divorce?
• What about no-fault divorce? Why do couples still need to have grounds?
• Does fault still exist?
• Does fault divorce mean one spouse misbehaved in a way that wrecked the marriage?
• What is the reasoning behind fault divorce?
• How did the coming of no-fault divorce change things?
• Did the liberalization of divorce make it less painful to get a divorce?
• Does no-fault mean that a man can squander the marital estate on his girlfriend and just get away with it?
• Why did states start to consider liberalizing divorce laws in 1960s?
• Is adultery one of the oldest grounds for divorce?
• How could a spouse prove adultery?
• What is the standard for meeting the burden of proof of adultery?
• Can a plaintiff prove adultery just by proving that a spouse had the disposition to do it?
• Are opportunity and disposition the only ways to prove adultery?
• How did people gather evidence to substantiate an allegation of adultery?
• Why does anyone use adultery as a ground for divorce if it can be so expensive?
• Are there any defenses to adultery?
• What is condonation of adultery?
• What is connivance in adultery?
• What is collusion in adultery?
• Why have condonation and connivance been done away with in no-fault jurisdictions?
• Is drug or alcohol use an excuse for commiting adultery?
• Can religious or philosophical beliefs be used as a defense against an allegation of adultery?
• What is meant by cruelty in a divorce action?
• What are some examples of physical cruelty?
• Are there other kinds of physical cruelty?
• Are subjective standards, such as threats, difficult to evaluate?
• Can insults and mean words be cruelty?
• Can cruelty to someone in the family be grounds for divorce?
• Does cruelty need a pattern of mean acts, or is one act sufficient?
• What happens when one spouse just up and leaves the marriage?
• How long does the abandonment have to be for a divorce of grounds of desertion?
• What happens if a working women refuses to relocate if her husband is transferred.
• What if someone leaves a marriage because the other spouse has made it impossible for the person to stay?
• What is constructive desertion?
• When one spouse is imprisoned, does the other have grounds for divorce?
• Does the length of a prision sentence determine when a spouse has grounds for divorce?
• What if a husband is only convicted of a misdemeanor, is it grounds for a divorce?
• Suppose a wife divorces a husband who is subsequently cleared of a crime for which he was sentenced to prison?
• Are the circumstances of the conviction ever reason for reversing a divorce granted on grounds of incarceration?
• When is insanity a fault ground for divorce?
• Is habitual drunkenness grounds for divorce?
• What about the case where the husband is an alcoholic and a drug addict but not violent?
• Is there some standard to use as proof (or conversely a defense) in such a case of alcoholism or drug addiction?
• Who makes the decision as to how much alcohol is too much, for a divorce on the grounds of drunkenness?
• Can a woman who has been forewarned by her husband that he is an alcoholic claim it as grounds for divorce after the marriage?
• What happens when two alcoholics attempt to divorce one another on grounds of habitual drunkenness?
• What happens when one person just walks about the door, but the separation is voluntary?
• What happens when a husband stays, but he doesn’t support the household at all?
• Is homosexuality in one spouse grounds for divorce?
• In general, what’s difficult with fault as a way of getting a divorce?
• Why do people use fault divorce when they can end a marriage in easier ways?
• Are there any advantages to making a divorce adversarial, i.e., using fault when no-fault might be used?
• What happens if both spouses are at fault?
• What’s the trouble with the doctrine of comparative rectitude?
• Is there any way to contest grounds for divorce?
• What were the defenses to divorce?
• What is collusion as a defense?
• If a couple collude in getting a divorce on the grounds of adultery, did the husband actually have to commit adultery?
• Wouldn’t a couple be colluding in divorce if they just agreed to divorce?
• What is condonation as a defense?
• How does a party argue condonation?
• How can anyone prove forgiveness?
• What happens when one spouse changes his or her mind about forgiveness?
• What is connivance?
• Can connivance be used to trick a husband into an affair?
• Was connivance that commonplace?
• Was connivance limited to cases of adultery?
• What happens when a husband believes his wife is being unfaithful but prefers not to discover it?
• What happens when a husband believes his wife is being unfaithful but bides his time as he gathers evidence to prove it?
• What happens when a husband believes his wife is being unfaithful but bides his time as he gathers evidence to prove it?
• Is connivance difficult to prove?
• What is provocation?
• Is there another term for provocation?
• What is recrimination?
• Where did the idea of recrimination come from?
• Why do people want to keep other people in failed marriage?
• Are there other defenses to grounds for divorce?
• Admitting drug addiction or alcoholism before the marriage in order to prevent a divorce?
• Doesn’t individual unhappiness mean that there has been a breakdown in the marriage?
• Is there a statute of limitations defense to a divorce?
• Has fault divorce fallen from favor?
• What is meant by a no-fault divorce?
• Why is there such a thing as no-fault divorce?
• What are the advantages of no-fault divorce?
• Can no-fault make other facets of the divorce -- property settlement, support and custody -- easier to negotiate?
• Why is it advantageous to avoid a divorce trial?
• What is a contested divorce?
• What is an uncontested divorce?
• What is the advantages of a no-fault, uncontested divorce?
• Why does a spouse contest a divorce?
• What are the disadvantages of no-fault?
• Doesn’t no-fault divorce just make it too easy to get a divorce?
• Is "incompatibility" adequate fault for divorce?
• Isn’t that just another way of saying that there are "irreconcilable differences" in the marriage?
• What is an "irretrievable breakdown"?
• Is voluntary separation enough of a grounds for a no-fault divorce?
• What if the separation is not voluntary? What if the husband just leaves?