At-Fault Divorce

During an at-fault divorce, one party seeks to prove that the other party was at fault. In this situation, the accused party must be guilty of at least one identifiable issue, including adultery, abandonment, cruelty, a multi-year prison sentence or physical inability to consummate marriage. There are also other reasons that a spouse may be accused of being the guilty party. Guidelines may vary from state to state; however, regardless of the particular state, proof must be provided that the accused spouse is in fact guilty. A couple may finalize a divorce after a certain period of separation and may be in effect anywhere from six months to five years, depending on which state the couple lives in.

Sometimes, both spouses are found to be at fault. In this situation, the court decides which spouse is less guilty, according to comparative rectitude. Laws have changed regarding two guilty parties. Whereas it used to stand that divorce was not allowed in a case of two guilty spouses, the court now decides which was the guiltier party and responds accordingly.

If a spouse is able to provide evidence that he or she was not actually at fault in the situation, the court may not allow the divorce to proceed. The circumstances surrounding this situation include collusion, condonation, connivance and provocation. In collusion, the couple usually wants to divorce before the certain period of time for their separation has been completed. In this situation, the couple claims that one of the spouses was at fault in order to move the divorce forward. In condonation, the spouse that is said to be innocent does not condemn the actions of the guilty spouse. In connivance, one of the spouses manipulates the guilty party. In provocation, which is similar to condonation, the guilty party claims that the innocent party was the cause of the guilty behavior.

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