A divorce can be a troubling time to experience. It feels like your entire world is turning upside down and everything becomes unfamiliar to you. Divorce proceedings alone can be confusing too, so it’s important that you know what to expect and how you can get through the process with your head still on your shoulders.

The Kinds of Divorce

No matter your reasons for getting divorced, there are almost always divorce costs involved. The two main kinds of divorce proceedings are called no-fault and fault. Each has their own pros and cons, and can only be filed for very specific reasons.

Knowing the differences between them beforehand will give you a better headstart on how you should start filing for divorce.

No-Fault Divorces

A no-fault divorce is the result of both partners agreeing together that they should no longer be married. They must both consent to providing information proving that they are no longer compatible as a married couple, such as irreconcilable differences, for example.

A no-fault divorce could be the result of:

• Separation: requires the married couple to live apart for a specific period of time (usually a year) to see if the couple can reconcile; if not, then a no-fault divorce can be granted.
• Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage: an agreement by the couple that the marriage no longer works/is broken beyond repair.
• Acceptance by the state: the most common form of no-fault divorce since it is the most convenient and least expensive. At least one member of the couple must acknowledge before the court that the marriage is beyond repair.

Fault Divorces

A fault divorce puts the blame on one person as the reason the marriage can no longer work. One party is proving to the court that the other person did something wrong that justifies the termination of the marriage. Different states have different categories as for what these reasons could be, but the most common ones are:

• Adultery: one partner has engaged in sexual activities with another person who is not involved in the marriage and without their partner’s consent. In simpler terms, one spouse is having an affair/is cheating on their spouse.
• Cruelty: one spouse is enduring physical or mental suffering at the hands of the other spouse. The cruelty must be deliberate and calculated, and must not have been provoked by the suffering spouse. The cruelty must also be recurrent.
• Abandonment/desertion: one spouse must voluntarily leave the marital household without any justifications or intentions to return, and must be absent from the household for a specific amount of time.
• Criminal conviction: one spouse has been charged with a crime and has been sentenced and imprisoned. The unconvicted spouse must prove that the other party was convicted of an illegal offence.

No-fault divorces are much lengthier in nature because it requires on spouse to provide sound evidence to the court, proving the reasons they want the divorce. Finding this evidence can take up a lot of time and money, which is why more and more people are leaning towards no-fault divorces.

Keeping your head on straight and having a support system to help you through these difficult times will make the entire divorce process less stressful than it needs to be.