Grounds for Divorce

The state of Alabama recognizes both fault and no-fault grounds for divorce. No-fault grounds are the circumstances in which neither spouse is to blame for the breakup. No-fault grounds include Incompatibility of the spouses, irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, and Voluntary alienation.

Fault grounds imply that one of the parties is to blame for the fact that the marriage is broken. Thus they entail more severe consequences and require indisputable evidence that must be presented before the court. Fault grounds include adultery, alcohol or drug addiction, incurable physical or mental illness of either spouse, domestic violence, living separately and without cohabitation for at least two years, and the fact that the wife got pregnant not from a legitimate husband.