The Law Blog of Oklahoma

Grounds for Divorce in Oklahoma

Friday, June 6, 2014

If your marriage is in trouble and you are considering divorce, you may wonder exactly what the grounds for divorce are in Oklahoma. Can anyone get a divorce for any reason? Does Oklahoma have an option for a no-fault divorce?

The answers lie in state law in 43 O.S. 101. This statute explicitly defines 12 grounds for divorce, one or more of which must be claimed and proven by the petitioner, or the individual filing for divorce:

  1. Abandonment - If one spouse abandons the other for a period of one year or more.
  2. Adultery - If one spouse has an affair or cheats on the other.
  3. Impotency - If a spouse is unable to fulfill the sexual relationship in a marriage.
  4. The wife was pregnant at the time of marriage by someone other than her husband.
  5. Extreme cruelty, including physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.
  6. Fraudulent contract - If a spouse deceived the other or withheld information that would have prevented the other from marrying him or her if the truth had been known.
  7. Incompatibility - Essentially, a "no-fault" divorce in which the petitioner demonstrates that there are differences between the spouses which prevent them from remaining happily married.
  8. Habitual drunkenness - Alcohol and drug addiction may prevent one spouse from fulfilling his or her marital obligations.
  9. Gross neglect - If a spouse refuses to fulfill his or her marital obligations or provide basic necessities for his or her partner.
  10. Incarceration for a felony
  11. You have already been granted a divorce in another state which is not yet recognized in this state
  12. Insanity - As a grounds for divorce, insanity must be demonstrated by a professional diagnosis, poor prognosis for recovery, institutionalization, and a condition which has persisted for at least five years.

Although any of the above criteria may be successfully used in filing a divorce, most divorces in Oklahoma are filed and granted on one of the following grounds: incompatibility, neglect, abuse, or adultery.

During recent sessions, the Oklahoma legislature has addressed proposed legislation that would make it more difficult to get a divorce. Among the proposed bills are laws that would increase the waiting period for a divorce from 10 days for a divorce without children and 90 days for a divorce involving children to 6 months, regardless of whether or not children were involved. Another proposed bill would eliminate incompatibility as grounds for divorce.

Opponents to these bills argued that neither would have a significant reduction in the state's divorce rate. Rather, increasing the waiting period for divorce would simply trap people in difficult marriages for a longer period of time, potentially increasing domestic violence. Eliminating a "no-fault" divorce would force petitioners to cast blame, creating bitterness in a divorce which could otherwise be handled relatively amicably.

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