It can be upsetting to find out that your spouse wants a divorce when you want to still work on the marriage. Your reasons may be based on religious or moral beliefs, or perhaps, you are simply unwilling to give up on the marriage at this point. Because a successful marriage takes two people who want to keep working on it, Texas permits divorce even if one of the spouses does not want one.

There are 7 grounds for a divorce – 4 fault grounds and 3 no-fault grounds. The fault grounds are:

    1. Cruelty – conduct was so cruel that it rendered further living together insupportable.

    2. Adultery – proof that the spouse had voluntary sexual intercourse with someone else during the marriage.

    3. Felony Conviction – must be a felony conviction that results in incarceration for at least one year.

    4. Abandonment – one spouse left the marriage voluntarily and with the intention of abandonment and has remained away
        for at least one year.

The no-fault grounds are:

1. Insupportability – the marriage has become insupportable because of a discord or conflict that destroys the legitimate ends of the marriage and there is no reasonable expectation of reconciliation.

2. Living apart – the parties have been living apart for at least three years without cohabitation.

3. Confinement to a Mental Hospital – the spouse was confined to a mental hospital for at least three years, and it appears the spouse’s mental disorder is of such a nature that the spouse is unlikely to recover or relapse is probable.

The no-fault basis of insupportability is the most common basis for divorce. This is essentially the irreconcilable differences ground for divorce. The only evidence needed to prove insupportability is one spouse testifying that their marriage has become insupportable and it destroys the legitimate ends of the marriage and there is no chance of reconciliation at this point. It does not matter if the other spouse testifies that the marriage is salvageable or not insupportable. One spouse believing that it is insupportable will suffice for the Court to grant the divorce.