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When you can get divorced

To file for divorce, you and your husband or wife will need to:

• have been married for at least a year (two years in Northern Ireland)
• have a marriage that is legally recognised in the UK
• show that your relationship has ‘irretrievably’ (permanently) broken down
• meet specific rules about how long you have lived in the country
  

A divorce county court (or sometimes the High Court) will decide if you can be given a divorce or not.

Showing your reasons for divorce

When you apply for a divorce, you must show there are good reasons (known as supporting ‘facts’ to show ‘grounds’) for ending your marriage.

If you are the person starting the divorce process (known as the ‘petitioner’) you must decide which ‘facts’ apply to you and you want to use.

The divorce will be quicker and cheaper if you agree the ‘facts’ that you’re going to use.

If they don’t agree with your ‘facts’, your husband or wife can defend the divorce. If this happens, you both might have to go to a court hearing to discuss the reasons for the divorce and settle any disagreements.

There are five types of ‘facts’ that you can use in divorce proceedings.

1. Adultery

You can use adultery as a reason for divorce if all of the following apply:

• your husband or wife has had sex with someone else of the opposite sex
• you don’t want to carry on living together
• you decided not to continue living together within six months of the adultery happening or you finding out about it

Any sexual activity that you have been forced into, whether you are a man or a woman, is not adultery as you were not willing. Rape is therefore not adultery. Adultery is sexual activity with someone else that you choose.

To prove adultery, you will need to give the court:

• details of the adultery, for example when it happened
• statements from you and your husband or wife
• an admission of adultery from your husband or wife

If your husband or wife won’t admit to adultery, you might need to talk to a solicitor about what to do next.

2. Unreasonable behaviour

If your husband or wife behaves so badly that you can’t carry on living together you can use ‘unreasonable behaviour’ as a reason for divorce.

Your husband or wife could be showing unreasonable behaviour if they:

• are physically violent to you
• are verbally abusive to you, for example through insults or threats
• fail to provide affection or attention
• don’t let you leave the house
• give you reason to believe they are having an affair

You will need to provide proof of unreasonable behaviour. If your husband or wife won’t admit to it, you may need to provide detailed evidence, like statements from friends or doctors.

If there has been domestic violence in your relationship you can find out how to get help by following the link below.

• Domestic violence: protecting yourself and getting help (crime and justice section)

3. Desertion

You can use ‘desertion’ as a reason for divorce if you can prove that your husband or wife has left you:

• without your agreement
• without a good reason
• for a period of more than two years in the last two and a half years
• with the aim of ‘deserting’ you (trying to end the relationship between you)
  

You can have lived together for up to a total of six months within this period and still claim desertion.

4. Living separately for more than two years with agreement on both sides

You can get a divorce if you and your husband or wife have lived apart for more than two years and both agree to divorce.

You can have lived together for up to a total of six months during this time if you have been apart for two years altogether.

Your husband or wife must agree in writing, so make sure you discuss it with them before filing for divorce.

5. Living separately for more than five years

If you and your husband or wife have lived apart for more than five years you can use this as a reason for divorce. If this has happened, you can apply for a divorce without your husband or wife’s agreement.

This will usually be enough to get a divorce. But your husband or wife can object if it will cause them ‘extreme’ difficulties - usually financial.

Starting the divorce process

Once you have decided which supporting fact to use, you can start the divorce process. You do this by filing a ‘divorce petition’ with a divorce court. Find out what to do next by following the link below.

• How to file for divorce