The three valid grounds for divorce
No one cannot divorce for any reason. The law provides three valid grounds for divorce: separation of the spouses for one year, adultery and physical or mental cruelty.
Warning! It is not necessary to obtain a legel separation (legel separation) before filing for divorce.
Reason for divorce 1: living apart for a year
To consider that spouses live separately, there must be an intention to no longer live together, to no longer share the life of the other.
The intention of the spouses to live separately is more evident if they no longer live under the same roof.
On the other hand, a spouse can file for divorce while living under the same roof as their spouse if they are able to prove that their intention is to live apart. For example, the spouse may submit that they:
Have a separate room;
Have no sexual relationship;
Communicate little or not at all;
Do not perform mutual domestic service (for example, preparing meals together or doing the other's laundry);
Do their grocery shopping separately;
Do not eat together;
Have independent social lives.
It will be up to the judge to decide if the spouses have actually been living separately for a year.
Ground for Divorce 2: Adultery
Committing adultery is having sex with someone other than your spouse.
Meeting a lover in secret is not adultery. It is absolutely necessary that the spouse has had sexual relations with this lover for the other to be able to invoke adultery.
Only the deceived spouse can use the ground of adultery to file for divorce. A joint petition for divorce for adultery is highly likely to be refused.
If the cheated husband has forgiven his husband's adultery, he can no longer use it as a ground for divorce.
Ground for divorce 3: physical or mental cruelty
We speak of physical cruelty when one of the spouses physically attacks the other.
Examples:
Beat her husband;
Hurt her husband;
Sexually abuse her husband.
We speak of mental cruelty when one of the spouses injures or makes the other suffer, but other than by physical aggression.
Examples:
Harass and insult her husband;
Despise or humiliate him;
Threaten him or his family;
Maintain a relationship with a lover.
Acts of cruelty must make cohabitation with another intolerable. To determine whether the cruelty has become intolerable for the spouse who suffers it, the judge generally analyzes:
The characteristics specific to each of the spouses (age, social condition, character);
The actions taken;
Their intentional nature;
Their frequency; and
Their consequences for the victim spouse.
Only the victim spouse can use the ground of physical or mental cruelty to request a divorce. A joint petition for divorce on grounds of physical or mental cruelty is highly likely to be refused.
If the victim spouse has forgiven the cruelty of his spouse, he can no longer use it as a ground for divorce.