Fault-Based Divorce

Divorce is a painful and extremely difficult process. Knowing how divorce laws function and understanding the court's role in a divorce can help to make this transition smoother and easier, however.

Divorce laws govern the dissolution of a marriage. Every country has its own laws regarding divorce and, in fact, they can vary from state to state or province to province within a nation. Knowing your jurisdiction's laws can keep a bad situation from becoming worse, and save you future turmoil.

In the United States, divorce laws, in general, provide two basic forms of divorce: fault based and no-fault based. However, even in some jurisdictions whose laws do not require a party to claim fault of their partner, a court may still take into account the behavior of the parties when dividing property, debts, evaluating custody, and support.

Fault-based divorces can be contested and may involve allegations of collusion of the parties, connivance, or provocation by the other party.

In a no-fault divorce, the dissolution of a marriage does not require an allegation or proof of fault of either party. Forty-nine states have adopted no-fault laws, with grounds for divorce including incompatibility, irreconcilable differences, and irremediable breakdown of the marriage. New York is the sole exception where they still
Marital property consists of property that the spouses acquire individually or jointly during the course of marriage. Separate property constitutes any property that one spouse purchased and possessed prior to the marriage and that did not substantially change in value during the course of the marriage because of the efforts of one or both spouses. Under modern divorce laws, separate property is returned to its original owner, while marital property is divided according to negotiated settlement and what the court deems