29. Grounds for Divorce
The bond of marriage and the nuclear family unit were thought to be sacred unions to be preserved at all costs. Divorce was a stigma and a “bad” marriage was a thing to be endured for the sake of the family and, in particular, the children. However, the last 40 years has seen a remarkable shift in emphasis in the area of divorce.
Originally, in order to obtain a divorce the pleading party had to show fault on the other side of the marriage, proving that the spouse had committed some act or activity believed ruinous to the marital relationship, such as adultery, cruelty, or desertion. The other party could then counter by proving fault in the pleading spouse or that the alleged activity did not occur. Fault was important not only in obtaining the divorce, but also in factoring property divisions and alimony.
No-fault divorce is the relatively recent invention of legislators who deemed it necessary in order to allow women to free themselves from destructive marriages. Under no-fault divorce, a party does not need to prove any fault; all that is required is to claim that there exists irretrievable breakdown or irreconcilable differences between the spouses or desertion. The pleading party in a divorce action merely needs to claim that she or he is so unhappy that leaving home (or “constructive desertion”) or dissolving the marriage is the only solution.
All states have adopted no-fault divorce, either as the only grounds for divorce or as an additional ground. As a practical matter, however, the other grounds are seldom used owing to the difficulty of proving things like adultery, mental cruelty, and the like. These are only used in situations where proof of fault will affect the court’s decisions with regard to the distribution of property, alimony, or child custody. Thus, only about 10 percent of divorces actually go to trial today.
In the accompanying table, the No-Fault column lists the particular type of no-fault statute that exists in the state. If there are no items listed under Grounds, then no-fault is the only ground for divorce in that state. If grounds are listed, no-fault is simply an additional available ground.
| Table 29: Grounds for Divorce |
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| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| ALABAMA | 30-2-1 to 12 | At least one party must be resident and must have resided 6 months prior to filing. | 30 days from date of the filing of the summons and complaint. | Irretrievable breakdown; separation (2 yrs.). | Condonation (not if parties connived to commit adultery), Collusion. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; drug/ alcohol addiction after marriage; insanity (in mental hosp. for 5 successive yrs.); pregnant at time of marriage without husband’s knowledge; imprisonment for 2 yrs. if sentence is 7 yrs. or longer; crime against nature with mankind or beast before or after marriage; incompatible temperaments; voluntary abandonment from bed or board for 1 yr.; wife lived apart for 2 years without husband’s support while she’s residing in state; at time of marriage, incapacitated from entering married state. |
| ALASKA | 25.24.050; 25.24.080; 25.24.120, 130, 200, 210 | Plaintiff must be resident for any amount of time. | | | For adultery, procurement, connivance, express or implied forgiveness, dual guilt, or waiting over 2 yrs. to bring action; procurement or express forgiveness is defense to any other ground. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; willful desertion for 1 yr.; drug/alcohol addiction; conviction of felony; failure to consummate; incompatible temperament; incurable mental illness (confined to institution for at least 18 mos. prior to divorce action). |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| ARIZONA | Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act §§25-311 et seq. | One party must be Arizona domiciliary and presence has been maintained 90 days prior to filing for divorce. | If one party denies that marriage is irretrievably broken, court may order conciliation conference and matter is continued for 60 days; at next hearing, court makes finding whether marriage is broken as a result of “no reasonable prospect of reconciliation.” 25-316 | Irretrievable breakdown; separation (both parties must consent and relationship must be irretrievably broken). | Only defense is that marriage is not irretrievably broken. | Only requirement is that relationship is irretrievably broken and the court has made provisions for child custody, support, disposition of property, and support of spouse. Covenant marriage: adultery, conviction of felony, abandonment for one year; sexual abuse; living apart for 2 yrs., or 1 yr. after legal separation; drug/ alcohol abuse; both spouses agree. |
| ARKANSAS | 9-12-301, 307, 308, 310 | One party must be resident at least 60 days before action and a resident 3 months before final decree granted. | 30 days from filing for decree (except in willful desertion for 1 year of continuous separation). | Separation:-(lived separate and apart for 18 mos.). | Collusion, consent or equal guilt in adultery. | Impotence; conviction of felony or infamous crime; habitual drunk for one year or cruel and barbarous treatment or offers indignities; adultery; separate for 18 continuous months; committed for 3 yrs.; and where either spouse legally obligated to support other and having ability to provide common necessities, willfully fails to do so. |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| CALIFORNIA | Family Code §§2310 et seq. | One party must have been resident 6 months and for 3 months in county where action is filed. | If it appears there is a reasonable possibility of reconciliation, proceeding may halt for up to 30 days; no decree is final until 6 months from service or respondent’s appearance, whichever is first. | Irreconcilable differences; incurable insanity. | | See “No Fault” |
| COLORADO | Uniform Dissolution of Marriage Act §§14-10-106, 120.3 | One spouse domiciliary for 90 days preceding commencement of action. | Decree may be entered 90 days after service of process or appearance of respondent, if one party denies marriage is irretrievably broken, court may continue matter for 30-60 days. | Irretrievable breakdown. | Lack of jurisdiction. | |
| CONNECTICUT | 46b-40, 44, 67 | Resident for 12 months before filing or 1 party domiciliary at time of marriage and returned with intent to stay or the cause for dissolution occurred after either moved to the state. | 90 days. | Irretrievable breakdown; separation (lived apart for at least 18 mos. prior to complaint). | | Adultery; cruelty or violence; willful desertion for 1 yr.; drug/alcohol addiction; insanity; unexplained absence for at least 7 yrs.; conviction of infamous crime; fraudulent contract; legal confinement for mental illness 5 out of last 6 yrs. |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| DELAWARE | Tit. 13 §§1503, et seq. | Action brought where either party is a resident for 6 months or longer. | Decree final when entered subject to right of appeal within 30 days. | Irretrievable breakdown; voluntary separation. | Defenses of condonation; connivance, recrimination, insanity and lapse of time are preserved only for a marriage that is separated and the separation caused by misconduct; respondent’s failure of jurisdictional/ residential requirements. | Separation caused respondent’s misconduct, mental illness or incompatibility. |
| DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | 16-901, et seq. | One party bona fide resident for 6 months. | 30 days after docketing of decree or judgment subject to right of appeal. | Voluntary separation (6 months) or separation for 1 yr. without cohabitation. | | |
| FLORIDA | 61.021, 052, 19 | Petitioner must have residence in Florida 6 months before filing suit. | 20 days after petition filed. | Irretrievable breakdown; mental incapacity of one or the parties. | Condonation, collusion, recrimination, laches abolished. | Mental incapacity of one party for preceding period of at least 3 yrs. |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| GEORGIA | 19-5-2-19-5-4 | One party resident for 6 months before action. | Decree in effect immediately except for irretrievable breakdown, in which case court may not grant divorce in less than 30 days from service on respondent. | Irretrievable breakdown. | For adultery, desertion, cruelty, or intoxication: collusion, both parties guilty, subsequent voluntary condonation and cohabitation, consent. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; willful and continued desertion for at least 1 yr.; drug/ alcohol addiction; impotency; mental incapacity or insanity; pregnant at time of marriage by man other than husband; conviction of crime for which the sentence is 2 yrs. or more; force, duress, or fraud in obtaining marriage; irreconcilable differences; intermarriage within prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity. |
| HAWAII | §§580-41 et seq. | One party domiciled or physically present 6 months before filing. §580-1 | Court fixes time after decree that it is final but not over 1 month. | Irretrievable breakdown; separation (for at least 2 yrs. or under decree of separation). | Recrimination no defense. | See “No Fault” |
| IDAHO | 32-601 et seq. | Plaintiff must be resident for 6 full weeks before commencing action. | Decree entered immediately on determination of issues (for adultery, within 2 yrs., for felony conviction, before the end of sentence or 1 yr. after pardon). | Separation (5 yrs.); irreconcilable differences. | Collusion; condonation; recrimination or limitation and lapse of time. | Adultery; extreme cruelty or violence; willful neglect or desertion; habitual intemperance; insanity; conviction of felony; irreconcilable differences. |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| ILLINOIS | 750 ILCS 5/ 401, et seq. and 5/451 et seq. | One spouse must be resident of Illinois for 90 days before commencing action. | Final when entered subject to right of appeal. | Irretrievable breakdown; separation (2 yrs.). Note: Under certain conditions, parties may file joint petition for simplified dissolution. | Collusion. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; willful desertion for 1 yr.; drug/alcohol addiction for 2 yrs.; impotency; unexplained absence; conviction of crime; venereal disease; 2 yr. separation by irreconcilable differences; undissolved prior marriage, attempted murder of spouse. |
| INDIANA | 31-15-2-2 et seq. | One party at filing must be resident for 6 months. | Final hearing no sooner than 60 days after filing; continue matter for 45 days if possibility for reconciliation; after 45, judge may enter decree upon request; if no request after 90 days, matter is dismissed. | Irretrievable breakdown. | | Impotency; insanity for at least 2 yrs.; conviction of felony. |
| IOWA | 598.5, 17, 19 | Unless respondent is a resident and given personal service, petitioner must have been resident for last year. | 90 days after service of original notice (time may be shortened by court in emergency). | Irretrievable breakdown. | | Irretrievable breakdown. |
| KANSAS | 60-1601, et seq. | One party must have been resident for 60 days before filing. | Hearing not for 60 days after filing (unless emergency). | Incompatibility. | | Insanity (mental illness/incapacity); incompatibility; failure to perform material marital duty/obligation. |
| KENTUCKY | 403 et seq.; 403.140, et seq. | One party must be resident of state and have been for 180 days before filing. | Final when entered (parties have to have lived apart for 60 days prior to decree). | Irretrievable breakdown. | | |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| LOUISIANA | Civ. Code §§102-104 | | Must live separate and apart for 180 days after filing or service of petition. | Separation (for at least 6 mos.). | Reconciliation. | Adultery; conviction of felony. |
| MAINE | Tit. 19-A §§901 to 908 | Parties must reside there and have been married there or resided there when cause of action accrued, or plaintiff resides there in good faith in state 6 months prior to action, or defendant is a resident. | Court may make it final immediately, but otherwise it is subject to an appeal period. | Irreconcilable differences. | Recrimination is comparative not absolute defense; sometimes condonation in court’s discretion. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; utter desertion for 3 consecutive yrs.; drug/alcohol addiction; impotence; nonsupport; irreconcilable differences; judicial determination of incapacity and appt. of guardian. |
| MARYLAND | Fam. Law §7-101-103 | If grounds occurred outside the state, one party must have resided in state 1 yr. before filing. | Upon meeting requirements, absolute divorce granted. | Separation (2 yrs. or voluntary for 12 months); limited divorce for cruelty, vicious conduct; separation; desertion. | Recrimination or condonation is factor but not absolute bar. | Adultery; desertion for 12 mos. without interruption; insanity (confined for 3 yrs.); conviction of crime (sentenced for at least 3 yrs. and served at least 12 months); cruelty, excessively vicious conduct; voluntary separation grounds for limited divorce. |
| MASSACHUSETTS | Ch. 208 §§1-5, §21 | Parties must have lived together in the commonwealth unless plaintiff lived there 1 yr. before filing or cause occurred in the commonwealth and plaintiff filed when living there. | 30 days after initial approval under certain conditions, or hearing 6 months after complaint filed if those conditions not met. | Irretrievable breakdown. | No defense. | Adultery; utter desertion for 1 yr.; cruelty; drug/ alcohol addiction; impotency; nonsupport; conviction of crime (sentenced for at least 5 yrs.); absence (raises presumption of death). |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| MICHIGAN | MCLA 552.1, et seq. | One party must have resided in Michigan for 180 days before filing and one party has resided in county where complaint is filed for 10 days immediately preceding filing except in certain situations. | | Irretrievable breakdown. | | Breakdown of marriage relationship. |
| MINNESOTA | 518 | One party must have resided in state or been a domiciliary for 180 days before filing. | Decree entered immediately upon finding irretrievable breakdown, subject to appeal. | Irretrievable breakdown. | All abolished by §5l8.06. | |
| MISSISSIPPI | 93-5-1, et seq. | One party actual, bona fide resident for 6 months before suit. | Final decree entered immediately but may be revoked at any time by granting court upon joint request of parties. | Irreconcilable differences (only if uncontested). | Recrimination not absolute bar; collusion (adultery). | Adultery; cruelty or violence; willful desertion; drug/ alcohol addiction; natural impotency; incurable insanity for 3 yrs.; pregnant at time of marriage; conviction of crime; prior marriage undissolved; in line of consanguinity. |
| MISSOURI | 452 | Either party must be a resident for 90 days. | Final when entered, subject to appeal. Court’s order of distribution of marital property is not subject to modification. | Irretrievable breakdown. (Findings of fact to satisfy listed in §452.320 (2).) | Abolished by §452.310. | |
| MONTANA | 40-4-101 to 136 | One party must be domiciled in Montana for 90 days. | Decree is final, subject to appeal. | Irretrievable breakdown; separation (180 days) or serious marital discord. | Abolished by §40-4-105. | |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| NEBRASKA | §§42-341 to 379 | Marriage solemnized in the state and one party resides in-state since marriage or one party has resided in-state (making it a permanent home) for 1 yr. before filing. | No suit for divorce heard until 60 days after service of process. | Irretrievable breakdown. | | |
| NEVADA | 125.010, 020, 130 | Unless grounds accrued in county where action brought, one party must have been a resident at least 6 weeks before filing. | Decree is final when entered. | Separation(1 yr. without cohabitation); incompatibility. | | Insanity (for 2 yrs. prior); lived apart without cohabitation for 1 yr.; incompatibility. |
| NEW HAMPSHIRE | 458 et seq. | Both parties domiciled or plaintiff was domiciled and defendant was personally served or plaintiff domiciled in state at least 1 yr. before action. | No special provision. | Irreconcilable differences; separation (absent 2 yrs.). | Common law defenses: condonation, connivance, recrimination, insanity a factor, but not defense. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; drug/ alcohol addiction; impotency; nonsupport; unexplained absence (for 2 yrs.); conviction of crime (with imprisonment for more than 1 yr.); joining religious group believing the relation of husband and wife unlawful and refusal to cohabit for 6 mos.; refusal to cohabit for 2 yrs. |
| NEW JERSEY | 2A:34 et seq. | Either party a bona fide resident of New Jersey at time cause of action arose and until commencement of action (except adultery, 1 yr. before action). | Decree immediately final, pending any appeal. | Separation (18 months); irreconcilable differences. | Abolished by §2A:34-7. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; desertion from 12 mos.; drug/alcohol addiction; insanity/ mental illness (confined for 24 mos.); conviction of crime (imprisonment for at least 18 mos.); deviant sexual behavior without plaintiff’s consent. |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| NEW MEXICO | 40-4-1, et seq. | New Mexico domicile required plus 6 months residency of either party. | No special provision. | Separation (permanent); incompatibility. | | Adultery; cruelty or violence; desertion/ abandonment; incompatibility. |
| NEW YORK | Dom. Rel. §§170, 171, 202, 230, 231 | Were married in state or reside in state as husband and wife and either party has been resident 1 yr. before commencing suit; cause occurred in New York and both parties are resident at commencement of suit; either has been resident for 2 yrs. | | Separation (1 yr. or more). | Adultery: Offense committed with plaintiff’s connivance; offense forgiven (shown affirmatively, by voluntary cohabitation, or by no action commenced within 5 yrs. of discovery of offense); plaintiff also guilty of adultery; defendant may set up misconduct of plaintiff as justification. | Adultery; cruel and inhuman treatment; abandonment (for 1 or more years); imprisonment of defendant for 3 or more consecutive yrs; lived apart for 1 or more yrs. |
| NORTH CAROLINA | 50 | Either party a bona fide resident for 6 months before bringing action. | Decree final immediately. | Separation (one year). | | Adultery; divorce from bed and board; cruelty or violence; desertion (abandonment); drug/alcohol addiction; incurable insanity (confined/ separated for 3 consecutive yrs.). Offers indignities that renders other spouse’s condition/ life intolerable/ burdensome; maliciously turns other out of doors. |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| NORTH DAKOTA | 14-05-03, et seq. | Plaintiff resident for 6 months before commencement of action or entry of divorce decree. | Decree must specify time when parties may remarry. 14-05-02 | Irreconcilable differences. | Condonation; lapse of time. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; willful desertion or neglect; drug/ alcohol addiction; insanity for period of 5 yrs.; conviction of felony. Irreconcilable differences. |
| OHIO | 3105 et seq. | Plaintiff must have been resident 6 months. | Decree immediately final, but court may order conciliation period for up to 90 days. | Separation (1 yr.); incompatibility (unless denied by other party). | Res judicata and recrimination not defenses. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; desertion; alcohol addiction; imprisonment; prior marriage undissolved; fraudulent contract; other party procures a divorce out of state; gross neglect of duty. |
| OKLAHOMA | Tit. 43 §§101, et seq. | One party must have been resident in good faith for 6 months before filing. | Final immediately unless appealed, but neither may marry for 6 months (if so guilty of bigamy) nor cohabit for 30 days (if so guilty of adultery). | Incompatibility. | | Adultery; cruelty or violence; abandonment/ desertion (1 yr.); alcohol addiction; impotency; insanity (for 5 yrs. prior); pregnant at time of marriage (not by husband); conviction of felony; fraudulent contract; procuring divorce out of state not releasing one party; gross neglect of duty. |
| OREGON | 107 et seq. | One party resident for 6 months prior unless marriage solemnized in state, either is resident at time of filing, dissolution based on void marriage. | Decree final immediately; no trial until 90 days after service (unless emergency). | Irremedial breakdown; separation for 1 yr. | Abolished by §107.036. | When either party was incapable of making contract or consenting for want of legal age or sufficient understanding. Doctrines of fault and in pari delicto abolished by §107.036. |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| PENNSYLVANIA | Tit. 23 §§3101 to 3707; Pa. R. Civ. P. 400; 1920.1-1920.92 | Bona fide residency by one party at least 6 months before filing. | Immediately final, subject to appeal. | Irretrievable breakdown; separation (2 yrs.). | Existing common-law defense, to all grounds but irretrievably broken marriage. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; desertion for 1 or more yrs.; insanity (confined for 18 mos.); bigamy; conviction of crime (sentenced to prison for 2 or more yrs. also; indignities makes life intolerable and burdensome; irretrievable breakdown and 90 days passed since action was filed and mutual consent). |
| RHODE ISLAND | 15-5-1 to 28 | One party resident 1 yr.; if based on defendant’s residency, he must be personally serviced with process. | Final decree entered anytime within 30 days or 3 months from decision date. | Irretrievable breakdown; separation (for at least 3 yrs.). | Collusion. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; desertion for 5 yrs.; drug/alcohol addiction; impotency; nonsupport; any other gross/ repugnant behavior (refusal and neglect). |
| SOUTH CAROLINA | 20-3-10 to 440 | One party resident 1 yr.; if both residents when action commenced, then only 3 month requirement. | Decree cannot be entered until 3 months after filing unless divorce sought on grounds of separation or desertion. | Separation (for 1 yr. continuously). | Collusion. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; desertion for 1 yr.; drug/alcohol addiction; lived apart without cohabitation for 1 year. |
| SOUTH DAKOTA | 25-4-2,et seq. | Plaintiff, at time action is commenced, must be a resident. | Action for divorce not heard for 60 days from completed service of plaintiff’s summons. (Court can continue for 30 day if reconciliation possible). | Irreconcilable differences. | Connivance; collusion; condonation; limitation or lapse of time. | Adultery; extreme cruelty; willful desertion or neglect; habitual intemperance; conviction of felony; irreconcilable differences. |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| TENNESSEE | 36-4-101, et seq. | No residency required if acts committed while plaintiff was resident; or if grounds arose out of state and plaintiff or defendant has resided in state 6 months preceding filing (1 yr. prior for military personnel or spouse). | | Separation of 2 yrs. with no minor children; irreconcilable differences. | For adultery, defense if complainant guilt of like act, or had sex with spouse after adultery with knowledge; or husband solicited wife for prostitution or exposed her to lewd society that ensnared her to adultery. | Adultery; cruelty or violence including attempted murder of the other; desertion for 1 yr. or absent state for 2 yrs.; drug/ alcohol addiction; impotency; pregnant at time of marriage by another man, without knowledge of husband; offers indignities that renders other spouse’s condition/ life intolerable, conviction of infamous crime or felony; previous marriage unresolved; also irreconcilable differences; lived separately without cohabitation for 2 continuous years and there are no minor children; abandonment or refusing/neglecting to provide when having the ability to do so. |
| TEXAS | Fam. 6.001,et seq. | One party domiciliary for preceding 6 months and resident of county for preceding 90 days. | 60 days from when suit was filed. Neither party may remarry before 31st day after decree signed (may be waived by court). | Separation (3 yrs.); marriage is insupportable due to discord. | Defense of recrimination abolished; condonation is defense only when reasonable expectation of reconciliation; defense of adultery abolished. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; abandonment/ desertion (1 yr.); insanity (confined for at least 3 yrs.); conviction of felony and imprisonment at least 1 yr. (unless spouse testifies against convicted spouse). |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| UTAH | 30-3 et seq. | One party bona fide resident 3 months before commencing action. | Decree becomes absolute on day signed by court. Hearing 90 days from filing of complaint. | Separation (3 yrs.); irreconcilable differences. | | Adultery; cruelty or violence; desertion (1 yr.); alcohol addiction; impotency; nonsupport; incurable insanity; conviction of felony; also irreconcilable differences and lived separately under decree of separation for 3 consecutive years. |
| VERMONT | Tit. 15 §§551, 562, 563, 592, 631 | 6 months before commencing action and 1 yr. before final hearing. 2 yrs. before commencing action for grounds of insanity. | | Separation (6 months). | Recrimination and condonation not defenses. | Adultery; intolerable severity; desertion (7 years); nonsupport; incurable insanity (confined for 5 yrs.); conviction of crime with imprisonment over 3 yrs; living apart for 6 consecutive months and resumption of marital relations not reasonably probable. |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| VIRGINIA | 20-91 | One party resident and domiciled 6 months before suit. 20-97 | Decree immediate on determination of issues. Remarriage prohibited during appeal. | Separation (1 yr.). | Adultery, buggery, or sodomy: cohabitation after knowledge, act occurred more than 5 yrs. before suit for divorce, or party procured or connived act. | Adultery or sodomy or buggery committed outside the marriage; subsequent conviction of felony and confined for more than one year without cohabitation following confinement; cruelty, caused fear of bodily hurt or willfully deserted 1 yr. from the date of such act; lived separate lives without cohabitation and without interruption for one year. |
| WASHINGTON | 26.09.030 | Plaintiff must be a resident or a member of armed forces stationed in state. | 90 days must elapse from point of filing petition; decree is final subject to right of appeal. 26.09.150 | Irretrievable breakdown. | | |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| WEST VIRGINIA | 48-5-101 et seq. | If cause is adultery, one party must be resident at time action brought; if defendant is nonresident and service cannot be effected within the state, the plaintiff must have been a resident for 1 yr. prior to commencement of action. If ground other than adultery, one party must be resident at time the cause arose or since then has become a resident and lived in state 1 yr. before action; if parties married in West Virginia, then only one must be resident upon filing–no specified length of time. | | Separation (1 yr.) §48-5-202; irreconcilable differences §48-5-201. | Condonation; connivance; plaintiff’s own misconduct; offense occurred more than 3 yrs. prior to divorce action; collusion is not a bar §48-5-301; adultery: voluntary cohabitation after knowledge or offense occurred more than 3 yrs. prior; no divorce granted if plaintiff guilty of uncondoned adultery within 3 yrs., unless grounds separation or irreconcilable differences. | Adultery; cruelty or violence; drug/ alcohol addiction; insanity (confined for 3 yrs. prior to complaint); conviction of crime subsequent to the marriage; neglect or abuse of child; abandonment or desertion for 6 mos.; irreconcilable differences if other party admits. §48-5-201; also lived apart without cohabitation and without interruption for one year. |
| WISCONSIN | 767.301, et seq. | Either party bona fide resident at least 6 months. 767.301 | Judgment effective immediately. No trial until 120 days after service of summons or filing of joint petition (court can order immediate hearing for health and safety of party or child). 767.335 | Irretrievable breakdown. 767.315(1); separation 12 months. | If both parties do not agree the marriage is irretrievably broken and have not lived apart for 12 months, court may suggest counseling and set for rehearing in 30-60 days. §767.315 other defenses abolished. | |
| State | Code Section | Residency | Waiting Period | No Fault | Defenses | Grounds |
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| WYOMING | 20-2-101, et seq. | Plaintiff must have resided 60 days before filing, unless marriage took place in Wyoming and plaintiff has lived there continuously. 20-2-107 | Final decree upon issue of determination but never issued less than 20 days from when complaint filed. 20-2-108 | Irreconcilable differences. 20-2-104 | | Insanity. 20-2-105 (confined for at least 2 years preceding commencement of action). |
