You have been thinking about a divorce, although you haven’t yet mentioned it to your spouse. You just feel like the two of you have been drifting apart. You’re not as close as you used to be. You think that you’ve just fallen out of love with your spouse and you’d like to break up and either be single or start another relationship.
What’s been holding you back, though, is that your spouse hasn’t done anything wrong. They’re not abusive or emotionally manipulative. They didn’t have an extramarital affair with someone from work. You often feel like you don’t really have a “good reason” to ask for a divorce. Do you need one?
No-fault divorce laws
No, you do not necessarily need to prove that the other person was at fault. Under Texas law, you can ask for a no-fault divorce. All you have to do is state that the marriage is insupportable or that you can’t reconcile your differences.
Some people say that this means you can get divorced for “no reason.” But that’s a little bit different. You are getting divorced for a reason, which is that you no longer want to be in a relationship with your spouse. You need a legal divorce to dissolve that relationship.
But that is much different than proving that the other person was at fault. Fault is not a requirement, even if at-fault divorce cases do still occur. You’re not required to go to court and prove that your reasoning is “good enough” for them to grant you the divorce. Couples in 2024 can get divorced simply because they want to.
The legal steps
If you are looking at the end of your marriage, take the time to carefully consider all of the necessary, legal steps. You may need to divide child custody, marital property and more.
