Grounds for Divorce in Hollywood

In Hollywood, grounds for divorce must be acceptable to a judge for you to be successful in your efforts to end your marriage.

If you choose to use one, your divorce attorney will know best how to write your petition, which is the legal request for a divorce.

In Hollywood, as in all of Florida, you cannot attach blame on one spouse for the divorce. Florida is a no-fault divorce jurisdiction.

By abolishing fault as a reason to grant a divorce, "this…lessens the potential harm to the husband, wife, and their children caused by the process of divorce," according to a pamphlet on divorce prepared by the Florida Bar Association, the statewide professional and regulatory association of attorneys.

Hollywood Divorce Grounds

Grounds for divorce means the conduct or circumstances which a spouse seeking a divorce must prove to be entitled to a divorce. In Florida, the primary grounds for divorce is that the marriage is "irretrievably broken."

There are no accusations necessary to obtain a divorce. As the term "irretrievably broken" implies, the marriage is considered to be over, but the court and the legal documents do not try to assign blame.

Florida also allows divorce if one spouse is mentally incompetent for at least three years before the filling of a petition for divorce.

When to Assign Blame

Although Florida is a no-fault divorce state, a judge can assign blame (known as economic fault) when it comes time to grant custody, divide the property and debts, and determine whether one spouse should receive alimony. Situations in which a spouse may be at economic fault include things like money spent on gambling, adultery, drugs and the like. Interestingly, giving money to relatives against the wishes of the other spouse also can allow a judge to assign economic fault to one spouse instead of the other. In Florida, such bad acts need to have occurred in the last two years of the marriage before filing for divorce. Such a finding could reduce the at-fault spouse's share of the property by half.