No-Fault Divorce

In no-fault divorce, the spouses are not on negative terms with one another. Neither spouse is accused of being in the wrong—instead, they mutually agree to terminate their marriage. The guidelines for no-fault divorce vary from state to state. In certain states, the divorcing couple must sometimes live separately for a certain allotment of time before the divorce is finalized. Depending on which state the couple lives in, they may be required to wait anywhere from six months to five years before they can finalize their divorce.

While the divorcing couple does not need to identify one spouse as the guilty party, they nevertheless need to agree on a specification in the divorce petition of the particular state they live in. The cause may sometimes be as simple as inability to live together. The couple may claim that they are incompatible and simply unable to get along together. They may also claim that they have irreconcilable differences, which hinder them from living a happy life. A third common claim for a no-fault divorce is irremediable breakdown of the marriage.

Although it was formerly required that one party be proven guilty before a couple could go through with a divorce, that requirement is no longer valid. Today there are fifteen states which only offer no-fault divorce. In these cases, the spouses are not able to accuse one another of being at fault for the divorce. Former reasons a spouse could be found guilty included adultery, abandonment, cruelty, a multi-year prison sentence, or physical inability to consummate marriage. These specifications are not valid in no-fault divorce since no specifications are required. The only requirements, which vary across the fifty states, are that the couple select a reason from the specific divorce petition of the state and (sometimes) that they live separately before their divorce is finalized.

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