Today, on Redhead Mom, I’m sharing a partnered guesst post about what counts as legal grounds for divorce,
The provisional number of divorce and annulment cases in 2023 totaled a staggering 672,502, based on data from 45 states in the US. This figure corresponds to a divorce rate of 2.4 per 1,000 residents.
In all 50 states in the country, the no-faul divorce law is now recognized. This makes ending a marriage possible without either party proving the fault of the other party. Fault-based grounds still exist in most states, and in a few places they can genuinely be important.
What do you mean by “legal grounds” in the context of divorce? When discussing the topic of divorce, “legal grounds” pertain to the reasons that must be presented in court to legally disolve the marriage.
Understanding the grounds that apply in your state and determining if pursuing fault provides any real strategic advantage are important for making informed choices in divorce proceedings.
No-Fault Divorce: The Default in Most Cases
As previously mentioned above, every state has no-fault divorce. But the wording for this type of divorce varies. Most commonly used phrases are the terms “irreconcilable differences” and “the marriage has suffered an “irretrievable breakdown.”
In some states or countries, there is a requirement that the parties must have lived separate and apart for a certain duration before the no-fault ground could be applied. The common factor in these cases is that neither spouse is believed to have any fault to prove.
The disregard for proving fault matters since it sidesteps the whole period of evidence collection, gathering proof, discovering personal conduct, and then fighting about whether the alleged behavior actually happened.
According to the family law firm at https://www.cruzarevalo.com/, the overall process for a no-fault divorce can be much less contentious, as there will be no reason to place blame on either party. It can be filed and pursued without having to air the marriage’s private history inside court filings.
For most couples, especially the ones trying to get to a fair resolution on finances and custody, no-fault usually ends up being the simpler and faster road.
A relatively small set of states used to require some kind of fault proof or a long separation before a divorce could be granted. When no-fault grounds spread nationwide, that hurdle largely disappeared, but the separation period requirement still shows up in some states as a procedural step.
Fault-Based Grounds: What They Are and When They Exist
States that maintain fault-based divorce laws usually recognize certain grounds, like adultery or cruelty.
Cruelty encompasses acts of physical abuse and emotional abuse. Other valid grounds include abandonment or desertion. A conviction for a felony or imprisonment could also serve as another reason for seeking divorce.
Proving any of these fault grounds really depends on evidence. Cases of infidelity often resort to evidence proving extramarital sex or at least compelling evidence of indecent extramarital activities.
In cases of physical abuse, the most common evidence is proof of the occurrences, such as medical examinations, police reports, photographs, and possibly witness statements.
To establish claims of desertion, an applicant must demonstrate willingness for the act to be unintentional, without the mutual agreement from the other spouse and continuous for the stipulated period.
Fault claims bring the parties’ own personal conduct into the case, and that has procedural consequences. It tends to become litigated, argued over, and also opened up for depositions.
Whether Fault Grounds Actually Change the Outcome
A practical question that most people planning to file for divorce should answer is whether pleading fault grounds actually produces a different result than filing on no-fault grounds. The response is jurisdiction-dependent and may be narrower than what many would assume.
There are a small number of states in which marital fault is a factor in awarding alimony. In case of adultery, a spouse might receive much less money or even be denied that money altogether on account of the alimony laws of the state.
In the majority of states, marital misconduct has no real legal effect on property division, alimony, or child custody. Judges in these places are prohibited from considering fault when they decide how assets are split or how support is calculated. So fault grounds may exist on paper, but they don’t really translate into practical litigation advantages.
Marital fault does not influence child custody decisions, which is why all laws in this matter are based on the best interests of the child. Adultery by one spouse does not change parental rights or custody unless the behavior harms the children. An example of this scenario is when the child is exposed to the abusive partner. Courts usually separate conduct as a spouse from conduct as a parent.
Domestic Violence and Abuse: A Different Legal Track
When domestic violence is involved, the legal response goes beyond simply choosing divorce grounds. A protective order may be put in place during the divorce. This is where the abusive spouse will be removed from the family home and barred from contact. In most states there are emergency protective order steps that let someone get same-day relief, especially when there is immediate danger.
Documented abuse also changes how divorce proceedings play out in real, practical ways. Courts look at a record of domestic violence when they decide custody. If a parent has committed domestic violence, that person may be treated as not suitable for joint custody or may only get supervised visitation.
As for property division, fault-based divorce grounds usually do not affect it. Still, these grounds can be relevant in some jurisdictions where waste or dissipation of marital assets is a relevant concern. Courts may also recognize that the abuser economically prevented or blocked the abused spouse from building their own independent assets.
For those who may be going through domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available. The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides safety planning that should be conducted before starting legal proceedings in cases where victims have experienced violence or where violence is likely to occur.
The Strategic Decision: Fault vs. No-Fault
The choice of whether to push for fault grounds is more about legal strategy rather than morality. Does your state make fault relevant to any of the financial outcomes you care about? If yes, then can the evidence you have actually back up the fault allegation in a solid way? If you are certain that you can prove the existence of fault, does getting the fault-based result, measured in dollars or property, end up being worth the extra cost, the delay, and the added risk that comes with litigating personal conduct?
In states where fault is basically irrelevant to outcomes, filing on fault grounds doesn’t really do much at all, aside from making the whole process feel more adversarial and pushing the case into something more contested.
In states where fault actually matters, it can meaningfully affect the financial outcome, but only if the fault is provable and the benefit outweighs the cost of proving it. The Justia Family Law Center offers state-by-state info on how different grounds can affect divorce outcomes across jurisdictions.
Grounds Set the Framework. The Issues Drive the Case.
The grounds on which a divorce is filed set the legal basis for the whole proceeding, but they usually don’t really decide how things end. What actually drives the result in a contested divorce is the way the substantive issues get settled.
How the property is divided, what support is granted, and how custody gets arranged are the key points of discussion when dealing with divorce.
Picking between fault and no-fault grounds should be something you choose intentionally, with a clear understanding of what each option does under the state law where you’re filing. This should not be a reactive choice based on emotion or some general principle. In most places and states, no-fault tends to be the practical and appropriate route. But in certain situations, fault grounds can serve a particular legal purpose.