The grounds for a divorce are the legal reasons the divorce is granted. There are likely many reasons you are considering a divorce, but you must choose one of the accepted legal grounds as your reason. Some of these reasons are called “fault” grounds, meaning one spouse is to blame for the divorce. They include:
- Your spouse had sexual relations with someone else during the marriage.
- Your spouse left you for at least 12 months and you did not live as husband and wife during this time.
- Extreme cruelty. Mental or physical cruelty has occurred that endangers your safety or health and makes it unreasonable for you to live together.
- Drug addiction. Your spouse is addicted to drugs or has experienced habitual drunkenness for 12 or more months.
- Mental illness. Your spouse has been institutionalized for mental illness for 24 or more months.
- You spouse has been imprisoned for 18 or more months.
- Deviant sexual conduct. Your spouse has engaged in deviant sexual conduct without your consent.
New Jersey also has no-fault divorce, which allows you to seek a divorce for irreconcilable differences that have been ongoing for at least 6 months with no chance of reconciliation. The other no-fault divorce can be based on separation for a period of 18 months in separate homes. Under these grounds, neither spouse is officially blamed for the divorce.
Talk to DeTorrese & DeGeorge about your options for divorce.