In Texas, you can file for divorce and claim that the end of the marriage is your spouse’s fault. There are a handful of potential reasons that the court will accept, such as cruelty, adultery, a felony conviction, abandonment or one spouse being confined to a mental hospital. If you just found out that your spouse had an affair, for instance, you can file for divorce and use that affair as grounds to terminate the marriage.
What if you don’t have one of these reasons that you can use? Maybe your spouse has never had an affair or been cruel or been convicted on felony charges. From the outside, it appears that the relationship is going well. You still know that you want to end that relationship and move on, though. Are you trapped in your marriage because of the way the divorce laws are set up?
A no-fault divorce is now possible
This may have been true at times in the past, but courts now use no-fault divorce laws. You don’t have to prove that your spouse was at fault at all. Instead, you can just say that the marriage has become insupportable.
Essentially, this just means that the relationship is irretrievably damaged. Maybe you have personality conflicts, so things just aren’t working out. Maybe the two of you have just moved on from the relationship and you have no desire to reconcile and make it work again. Under modern divorce laws, simply being unhappy in the marriage and wanting to leave it is enough for you to be granted a divorce.
Whether you decide to file for divorce based on fault or not, it’s critical that you know exactly what legal steps to take at this time. That’s why professional guidance is necessary.