Why does a victim of abuse still need to have grounds for divorce?

Cruelty and mental cruelty are fault grounds for divorce. In divorce actions, grounds only refers to the reason for the divorce; fault refers to the fact that someone had done something wrong. In the case of domestic violence, no-fault may not apply because domestic violence is a good ground for a fault divorce.


Even in no-fault, grounds for divorce -- be it irreconcilable differences or irretrievable breakdown -- still exist. At one time spouses had to accuse the other of having done something wrong in order to get a divorce. That something wrong was often an affair, but it could also have been something else.


In a no-fault divorce, one spouse no longer need accuse the other of a wrong because no one is at fault.


In the domestic violence context, obviously a woman would not need to seek a no-fault divorce. She has in fact been wronged.