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No-Fault Divorce: Irretrievable Breakdown

For purposes of no-fault divorce, states use various terms to describe the basic concept of marital breakdown, including irreconcilable differences, incompatibility, insupportability, and irretrievable breakdown. The realization that existing divorce laws no longer comported with the modern marriage experience and marital life led most states to recognize marital disharmony as a basis for no-fault divorce. Statutes usually provide some definition for the concept, and courts often have discretion to apply the standard in individual divorce proceedings. For example, the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act provides that, if a party claims marital breakdown, then the court shall determine “whether the marriage is irretrievably broken.”

 

The factors composing an irreconcilable marriage can be diverse and many. They might include divergence of the spouses’ interests, personality conflicts, the absence of mutual emotional support, financial disagreement, frequent arguments, physical separation, disinterest, distrust, or ongoing hostility.

If a party disputes that the marriage is unworkable, then it usually is up to the court to determine whether there are substantial reasons for discontinuing the marriage. It usually is sufficient to determine that the spouses’ relationship cannot continue as a harmonious marriage. Most states require the divorce court to find that there is no reasonable hope of reconciliation in order to grant a divorce for marital discord. The standard is subjective and flexible.

The statutory framework would appear to establish a difficult threshold for denying divorce petitions based on marital breakdown. Courts are empowered to deny divorce upon a finding that the marriage is salvageable, and it usually is within the judge’s power to order the parties to undergo counseling. The very fact that a spouse asserts marital incompatibility probably constitutes prima facie evidence that the marriage is broken. Courts rarely deny a divorce, which is requested because of incompatibility, on the ground that the marriage is not broken.

Copyright 2011 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

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Randy S. Margulis
Member

As a Buffalo divorce lawyer for 28 years, I have devoted myself to solving the problems that affect families throughout the Buffalo metropolitan area and Western New York. As a family law attorney, I make it my goal to create a partnership of trust with my clients. People put their trust in me to handle cases that can potentially have a long-lasting impact on not only their lives, but the lives of their family as well.

Alexandra M. Rockwood Attorney Photo
Alexandra M. Rockwood
Senior Associate

Alexandra M. Rockwood is a Senior Associate Attorney with the Law Offices of Randy S. Margulis & Associates and has been with the firm since early 2020. She primarily practices in the areas of matrimonial and family law, including divorce, child custody, and child support. Alexandra is a practicing matrimonial and family law attorney as…

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