What are the grounds for divorce in Utah?
Grounds are legally acceptable reasons for divorce. The judge may grant you a “no-fault” divorce:
- based on irreconcilable differences;1 or
- when you and your spouse have lived separately with a court order of separate maintenance (alimony) for three years in a row.2
A judge may also grant you a fault-based divorce if you can prove that your spouse:
- is a man who is unable to have sex (is naturally impotent);
- had sex with someone else (committed adultery) after you got married;
- stopped living with you as your spouse (committed “willful desertion”) for more than one year;
- stopped providing for your common needs (committed “willful neglect”);
- is habitually drunk;
- was convicted of a felony after you got married;
- is so cruel to you that s/he causes you physical injury or great mental distress; or
- is incurably insane.3
1 Utah Code § 30-3-1(3)(h)
2 Utah Code § 30-3-1(3)(j)
3 Utah Code § 30-3-1(3)(a)-(g), (3)(i)