California Divorce Basics

Divorce in California is called a Dissolution of Marriage. Residency Requirement: In order to file for divorce in California, at least one of the parties must have resided in California for at least six months prior to filing, and in the county where he/she plans to file for the divorce, for the prior three months. Spouses Name: In an action for dissolution of marriage and/or annulment, if a party requests it, the court will restore the birth name or former name of the requesting party, whether or not the request was made in the original Petition. Legal Grounds for Divorce Under California law, there are only two grounds for divorce:

Irreconcilable differences, which have caused the irremediable breakdown of the marriage; and Incurable insanity, only with proof, which includes competent medical or psychiatric testimony that the spouse was incurably insane when the petition was filed, and remains so.

Annulment In an annulment, the court determines that a marriage or domestic partnership is not legally valid. The following conditions or situations render a marriage or domestic partnership invalid, void or voidable.

Incestuous unions; Bigamy; Unions created by force, fraud, physical or mental incapacity; or One spouse was legally too young to marry or enter a domestic partnership. To file for an annulment, one party must reside in the county where the papers are filed at the time the case is started. There is no required length of residency. To obtain an annulment, you must request a hearing with a judge. Support, custody, property division and other related orders are available in annulment cases.

Alabama Divorce Basics

Divorce in Alabama is conducted as a civil action, with one party, plaintiff, filing a complaint for divorce, and the other party being named as a defendant. Residency Requirement: To file for divorce in Alabama, one of the spouses must have been a bona fide resident of the state for six months prior to the filing of the Complaint. This must be alleged in the complaint and proven.

Legal Grounds for Divorce There are 12 statutory grounds for divorce in Alabama, most of which require a finding of fault on the part of one of the spouses. However, two of these grounds, incompatibility and irretrievable breakdown, are considered no-fault and are used most often. The statutory grounds are as follows. 1. If, at the time of marriage, either party was physically and incurably incapacitated from entering into the marriage state; 2. Adultery; 3. Voluntary abandonment for at least one year prior to filing; 4. Imprisonment in a penitentiary in any state for at least two years, with a minimum sentence of seven years; 5. The commission of a crime against nature, with man or beast, either before or during marriage; 6. Becoming addicted after marriage to habitual use of alcohol, opium, morphine, cocaine or other like drug; 7. Incompatibility of temperament prohibiting the spouses from living together any longer, as determined by the court; 8. Confinement of one of the parties, after marriage, in a mental hospital for a minimum of five successive years, if that party is hopelessly and incurably insane at the time of filing the complaint (a certified statement attesting to this condition from the superintendant of the mental hospital is required.); 9. Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, as determined by the court; 10. If the wife was pregnant at the time of marriage without the husbands knowledge or agency; 11. If one party has committed violence against the other party or when his/her conduct causes a fear of such violence; or 12. If the wife has lived separate and apart from the bed and board of her husband for at least two years without support from him, and she has resided in Alabama during the two year period. Annulment The annulment process in Alabama is largely based on case law. Grounds for annulment include the following:

One party consented to the marriage due to fraud or duress; One of the parties was under 14 years of age at the time of the marriage; One of the parties was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when the marriage ceremony took place; Bigamy; Inability to consummate the marriage due to impotency; or Marriage between parties closely related by blood (such as father, mother, nephew or niece, sister or brother, uncle or aunt).