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:
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.