WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors, no matter their sex or gender.

Legal Information: California

Divorce

Laws current as of November 7, 2024

What are the grounds for divorce or legal separation in California?

You can file for divorce or for legal separation in California based on either of the following grounds:

  1. irreconcilable differences, which have caused the permanent breakdown of the marriage; or
  2. permanent legal incapacity to make decisions.1 For this ground, there needs to be competent medical or psychiatric testimony that the spouse was at the time the petition was filed, and still is, lacking the legal capacity to make decisions.2

1 Cal.Fam.Code. § 2310
2 Cal.Fam.Code. § 2312