What Are Grounds for Divorce in North Carolina?

By New Year's Day, many couples have decided that it is time for a divorce. Some couples have known throughout the whole holiday season that they were going to separate, and they were only counting the days until January 1. In other cases, as people evaluated their relationships in light of the New Year, they have realized that it is time to part ways. This makes January perhaps the busiest month out of the year for divorce lawyers. But just because you may be emotionally and mentally ready for the divorce, this does not necessarily mean that you are legally ready for it. To get a divorce in North Carolina, you must first meet a residency requirement, and there must also be grounds for (a legal reason for) the divorce. Keep reading to learn if you are ready to start this process.

To fulfill North Carolina's residency requirement, at least one spouse has to have lived in North Carolina for the past six months. Then they would have to file for the divorce in that county where they have been living. When filing for the divorce, a legal reason must be provided. In North Carolina, you can get a fault-based divorce, where the divorce is being blamed on one spouse's "marital misconduct". These grounds for divorce include adultery, abandonment, and domestic violence. Other grounds include one spouse cruelly forcing the other out of the house, emotional abuse, and substance abuse.

But not all fault-based divorces stem from marital misconduct. Incurable insanity could also be a legal reason for a divorce. Incurable insanity refers to when a mentally ill spouse has to be cared for in a medical facility, a confinement that has lasted at least three years before the other spouse can file for divorce. Certain medical professionals would have to provide sworn statements that the spouse has incurable insanity.

Can you get a no-fault divorce in North Carolina? Yes. North Carolina is both a fault and a no-fault state. Sometimes it will be best for a spouse to seek a fault-based divorce, but in other cases, a no-fault divorce will be more suitable. This type of divorce means that a spouse feels that the marriage is beyond repair, that it is irretrievably broken. The spouses do not have to agree on this assessment of the marriage; only one spouse must think the marriage is over. Before you can file for this type of divorce, there has to have been a continuous year of separation, one straight year of living apart, of no longer living as a married couple.

If you are looking to get a divorce, or need to learn more about the divorce process, then you need to find the best divorce attorney possible. This complex legal procedure will deeply affect just about every aspect of your life. You do not want to entrust your future to a novice lawyer, much less an inadequate online form. Find the excellent representation you deserve at Hopper Law Office, PLLC. Learn what an experienced Raleigh divorce lawyer can do for you and your family when you contact us today.

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