The No-Fault Divorce Process of Dissolution

No-fault divorce is a divorce in which the dissolution of a marriage requires neither a showing wrong-doing of either party nor any evidentiary proceedings at all. It is granted upon a petition by either party to a family court, without requiring the petitioner show that the respondent is at fault, and despite respondent's potential objections to the dissolution. Learn more of this with the st. louis divorce attorney.
Modern United States "no-fault" divorce came about in the 1970s because of widespread disgust among lawyers and judges at the legal fictions that had become commonplace since the mid-20th century. Columnist Melanie Phillips wrote that "the divorce laws...were reformed by unrepresentative groups with very particular agendas of their own and which were not in step with public opinion."
Prior to the no-fault divorce revolution, a divorce could be obtained only through a showing of fault of one of the parties in a marriage. This was something more than not loving one another; it meant that one spouse had to plead that the other had committed adultery, abandonment, felony, or other similarly culpable acts.
However, the other spouse could plead a variety of defenses, like recrimination. Recrimination is a defense in an action for divorce in which the accused party makes a similar accusation against the plaintiff, essentially an accusation of "you too". Visit the st. louis divorce attorney to learn more about recrimination.
A judge could find that the respondent had not committed the alleged act or the judge could accept the defense of recrimination and find both spouses at fault for the dysfunctional nature of their marriage. Either way, the judge would refuse to dissolve the marriage.
The requirements were particularly problematic when both spouses were at fault or where neither spouse had committed a legally culpable act but could no longer tolerate the other. Lawyers began to advise their clients on how to bypass the requirements.
One such method was referred to as "collusive adultery", in which both sides deliberately agreed that the wife would come home at a certain time and discover her husband committing adultery with a "mistress" obtained for the occasion. The wife would then falsely swear to a carefully tailored version of these facts in court. The husband would admit a similar version of those facts. The judge would convict the husband of adultery, and the couple could be divorced. For more information about the no-fault divorce or other divorce processes, then visit the st. louis divorce attorney for details.

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