Grounds under Which a Divorce can be filed

Most people feel that divorce should come as a last resort when having marital problems and indeed it should be. You should seek counseling, mediation, ‘alone time’ during holidays and even parental intervention before calling it quits. A Houston divorce court will usually grant a divorce case based on all or any of the grounds listed below.

Adultery

Philandering is the main cause of divorce anywhere. Your Houston divorce lawyer will advise you that this is also good ground to have the larger portion of the community estate as the judge will take in the cause of the divorce during the sharing of the property.

Drug Abuse

A spouse that is addicted to alcohol or other drugs is likely to make the other suffer in terms of finances, emotional neglect, exposure to violence and diseases as well as exposing the kids to the drugs. A Houston divorce court will not hesitate to grant a divorce hearing in drug abuse cases, especially where there are children involved and all the other means of helping the drug abuse victim have failed.

Emotional Neglect

Also called inhumane treatment, a person lodging a divorce petition on these grounds has to prove to the Houston court that indeed this is the case. It is very hard to put emotional neglect in quantifiable terms. This ground is thus used together with others in order to convince a judge.

Separation of 2 Years with no children

This is a very strong ground to institute a divorce proceeding. There is no way a marriage can be alive if the parties to the marriage contract are living separately and they do not have children. The court in this case is tempted to feel that one or both of the parties to the marriage are not keen on being together.

Desertion of over one year without reasonable cause

If one of the party to a marriage has been absent for over one year and there has been no reasonable explanation, then the Houston divorce court will grant the hearing.

Conviction

One of the parties to a marriage contract can file for a divorce if the other party is serving a jail term in a penitentiary.

Pregnancy

This is almost equal to adultery when filing for a divorce. If a wife gets married when pregnant other than by her husband and without the husband’s knowledge of her condition, then the husband has a legal ground on which to file for a divorce. He cannot be forced by the court to bring up a child he has not fathered and whom he was not aware of when getting married.

Impotency

If one of the parties to a marriage feels that the other spouse is biologically unable to become a parent, then he/she may file for a divorce. However, the court usually advice the partners to adopt a child before considering divorce. In itself, impotency is not a legal ground for divorce in Houston unless the party afflicted knew of it and did not inform his/her partner at the time of marriage.

Other grounds include; attempt on the life of a spouse, refusal to support the other spouse, inability to reconcile within 2 years after a separation decree among others.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Busby Jr. is a Divorce, Family Law, & Houston Divorce Lawyer,  who practices in Harris County Texas and the counties that surround Harris County, Texas. He has been in practice for over 14 years and has tried over 300 cases.  He is familiar with the policy and procedures of the Harris County Texas Divorce Courts.   Our office is open until 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for working folks.

Michael Busby Jr.

2909 Hillcroft Suite 350

Houston, Texas 77057

(713) 974-1151

Visit me on the web at www.busby-lee.com

• By Michael
• Oct. 16, 2017
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