Maine Divorce Causes

When filing for divorce in Maine, you must provide legally acceptable reasons, known as "grounds for divorce." Understanding what qualifies as valid grounds and how they affect your divorce process can help you navigate this difficult transition more effectively. Maine offers both no-fault and fault-based grounds for divorce, giving couples options in how they approach ending their marriage.

No-Fault and Fault-Based Grounds

Maine stands out among U.S. states as a "mixed" jurisdiction that recognizes both no-fault and fault-based grounds for divorce. While all states now allow no-fault divorce, Maine has retained fault-based options, giving spouses choices about how to proceed with their divorce action.

This dual system reflects Maine's approach to balancing modern divorce law principles with traditional legal grounds. Most divorcing couples choose the no-fault route because it's generally faster, less expensive, and reduces conflict. However, fault-based grounds remain available for situations where proving misconduct serves a legitimate purpose.

No-Fault Divorce: Irreconcilable Differences

The most common ground for divorce in Maine is "irreconcilable differences," which represents a no-fault approach to ending marriage. This ground essentially means you and your spouse cannot get along as a married couple anymore, with no reasonable prospect of reconciliation.

When you file for divorce based on irreconcilable differences, you're stating that your marriage has suffered a complete breakdown. You don't need to prove anyone did anything wrong or assign blame to either spouse. The focus shifts from fault-finding to simply acknowledging that the marriage cannot continue.

Key aspects of no-fault divorce in Maine:

• No proof of wrongdoing required from either spouse
• No blame apportioned to either party
• Focuses on the relationship breakdown rather than specific misconduct
• Generally results in less contentious divorce proceedings
• Allows couples to maintain privacy about personal marital issues
• Typically faster and less expensive than fault-based divorce

When Your Spouse Disagrees

If you file for divorce claiming irreconcilable differences but your spouse denies that such differences exist and believes the marriage can be saved, the court has authority to intervene. The judge may postpone your case and require both you and your spouse to attend counseling with a qualified professional counselor.

After counseling, the counselor provides a written report to both parties and the judge detailing the counseling experience and assessment of the marriage. If the spouse denying the marriage breakdown refuses to attend counseling without good reason, the judge may consider this refusal as evidence supporting your claim of irreconcilable marital differences.

This process serves multiple purposes: it gives genuinely salvageable marriages a chance at reconciliation, it prevents one spouse from unilaterally ending a marriage when real hope for repair exists, and it provides the court with professional assessment of whether the marriage is truly broken beyond repair.

Fault-Based Grounds for Divorce

Maine law recognizes seven specific fault-based grounds for divorce. These grounds allow one spouse to claim the other's misconduct caused the marriage breakdown. Proving fault requires evidence and typically involves more complex divorce proceedings than no-fault cases.

Adultery

Adultery occurs when one spouse engages in sexual relations with someone other than their spouse during the marriage. This represents one of the most commonly cited fault grounds historically, though it's less frequently used today given the availability of no-fault divorce.

To prove adultery, you must present evidence of the extramarital affair. This might include witness testimony, communications between your spouse and their paramour, financial records showing suspicious expenditures, or other documentation demonstrating the affair occurred. The burden of proof rests on the spouse alleging adultery.

Extreme Cruelty and Cruel and Abusive Treatment

Maine law lists both "extreme cruelty" and "cruel and abusive treatment" as separate grounds, though they overlap significantly. These grounds encompass physical violence, emotional abuse, psychological mistreatment, and other behaviors that make continued marriage intolerable.

Cruel and abusive treatment might include:

• Physical violence or threats of violence
• Verbal abuse, insults, and degradation
• Controlling behavior that isolates the victim
• Financial abuse and manipulation
• Sexual coercion or assault
• Patterns of intimidation and fear-inducing conduct

Evidence for cruelty claims might include police reports, medical records documenting injuries, witness testimony from family or friends, threatening communications, and documentation of protective orders.

Utter Desertion

Desertion as grounds for divorce requires that your spouse abandoned you for three consecutive years before you file for divorce. This represents a complete abandonment of marital obligations and the marital home.

Desertion means your spouse:

• Left the marital home without justification
• Had no intention of returning
• Failed to provide support or maintain contact
• Abandoned marital responsibilities for the full three-year period

Temporary separations, agreed-upon separations, or leaving due to abuse don't typically qualify as desertion. The abandonment must be unjustified and complete.

Gross and Confirmed Habits of Intoxication

This ground addresses severe substance abuse involving alcohol or drugs. "Gross and confirmed" means the intoxication habit is both serious and established over time, not merely occasional or experimental substance use.

To prove this ground, you must demonstrate:

• A persistent pattern of intoxication
• Habitual abuse rather than isolated incidents
• Impact on the marriage and family life
• Continued abuse despite awareness of consequences

Evidence might include arrest records for intoxication-related offenses, medical records documenting substance abuse, witness testimony about drinking or drug use, and documentation of treatment attempts or failures.

Failure or Refusal to Provide Support

When one spouse willfully, wantonly, or cruelly fails to provide support despite having the ability to do so, this constitutes grounds for divorce in Maine. This ground addresses financial abandonment within the marriage.

Key elements include:

• The failing spouse has financial ability to provide support
• The failure to support is willful (intentional) or wanton (reckless)
• The failure causes hardship to the other spouse
• The non-supporting spouse has no legitimate justification

This ground differs from simple inability to provide support due to unemployment, disability, or genuine financial hardship. It requires proof that the spouse could provide support but chose not to do so.

Impotence

Impotence as grounds for divorce refers to the physical inability to consummate the marriage through sexual intercourse. This ground has historical roots in the concept that procreation and sexual relations constitute fundamental aspects of marriage.

This ground is rarely invoked in modern divorce proceedings, as most couples prefer the privacy of no-fault divorce when dealing with such intimate issues.

Mental Incapacity

When a spouse has been found to be an incapacitated person for whom a guardian with full powers has been appointed by the court, this may serve as grounds for divorce. This ground recognizes that severe mental incapacity can make it impossible to maintain a marital relationship.

When this ground is alleged, the court must appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the interests of the incapacitated person during divorce proceedings, ensuring their rights are protected even though they cannot advocate for themselves.

How Fault Affects Your Divorce

While Maine allows fault-based divorce, proving fault adds complexity, time, and expense to divorce proceedings. Understanding how fault impacts your case helps you decide whether pursuing fault-based grounds serves your interests.

Impact on Divorce Timeline

Fault-based divorces typically take longer than no-fault divorces. Gathering evidence, deposing witnesses, and presenting proof at hearings extends the process beyond the minimum 60-day waiting period required by Maine law. What might conclude in a few months as an uncontested no-fault divorce can stretch to a year or more when fault must be proven.

Impact on Legal Costs

Proving fault requires legal expertise. You'll likely need an attorney to gather evidence, prepare witnesses, and present compelling arguments to the court. Your spouse may hire their own attorney to contest your fault allegations, leading to increased legal fees for both parties. Depositions, expert witnesses, and additional court appearances all add to divorce costs.

Impact on Spousal Support

Fault may influence spousal support decisions in Maine. While fault isn't automatically considered in all support determinations, judges can take marital misconduct into account when deciding whether to award support and in what amount.

For example, if you prove your spouse committed adultery, the judge might award you higher spousal support or extend the duration of support payments. Conversely, if you're seeking support but the court finds you committed fault that ended the marriage, your support award might be reduced or denied.

Impact on Property Division

Maine follows equitable distribution principles, meaning the court divides marital property fairly based on specific circumstances. While the court doesn't automatically consider fault when dividing property, certain types of fault can affect property division.

Economic misconduct that impacts property division includes:

Fault that doesn't involve financial misconduct (such as adultery alone, without wasteful spending on the affair) typically doesn't affect property division in Maine.

Defenses to Fault-Based Divorce

When one spouse files for divorce on fault grounds, the accused spouse can raise several defenses to contest the allegations:

Condonation: The accused spouse proves the other spouse forgave or condoned the misconduct. For example, if a spouse continued living with their partner for years after learning about adultery, this may constitute condonation.

Provocation: The accused spouse proves the other spouse provoked the misconduct. For instance, if desertion occurred because of the other spouse's physical abuse, provocation might serve as a defense.

Connivance: The accused spouse proves the other spouse created conditions encouraging the wrongdoing. An example might be one spouse arranging situations for adultery to occur to establish divorce grounds.

Collusion: The accused spouse proves both parties agreed to fabricate grounds for divorce, but one party backed out of the arrangement.

Recrimination: The accused spouse proves the other spouse also committed marital misconduct, essentially arguing both parties share fault for the marriage breakdown.

These defenses can make fault-based divorces even more complex and contentious, as both sides may end up alleging fault against each other.

No-Fault vs. Uncontested: Understanding the Difference

Many people confuse "no-fault divorce" with "uncontested divorce," but these terms address different aspects of the divorce process:

No-fault divorce refers to the grounds for divorce—the legal reason the marriage is ending. It means you're not blaming either spouse for specific misconduct but simply acknowledging irreconcilable differences.

Uncontested divorce refers to the level of agreement between spouses about divorce terms. It means both parties agree on all major issues including property division, spousal support, child custody, and child support.

You can have a no-fault divorce that's contested (spouses cite irreconcilable differences but disagree about property or support). You can also theoretically have a fault-based divorce that's uncontested (one spouse admits to adultery and both agree on all other terms, though this is rare).

Meeting Residency Requirements Before Filing

Before you can file for divorce in Maine on any grounds, you must meet the residency requirements. Maine offers several ways to establish jurisdiction:

• You've lived in Maine for at least six months before filing
• You're a Maine resident and were married in Maine
• You're a Maine resident and lived in Maine when the cause of divorce arose
• Your spouse is a Maine resident

These residency requirements ensure Maine courts have proper authority over your divorce case and prevent forum shopping for favorable divorce laws.

The Mandatory Waiting Period

Regardless of which grounds you cite for divorce, Maine law requires a minimum 60-day waiting period between filing all necessary divorce paperwork and the final hearing. This waiting period applies to both fault-based and no-fault divorces, contested and uncontested cases.

The waiting period serves several purposes:

• Provides time for couples to reconsider and potentially reconcile
• Allows opportunity for negotiating settlement agreements
• Ensures divorces aren't granted hastily without proper consideration
• Gives both parties time to prepare for divorce proceedings

Very few divorces conclude in exactly 60 days. Court scheduling, negotiation processes, and case complexity typically extend divorce timelines well beyond this minimum period.

Privacy Considerations

Maine law allows parties to request that divorce proceedings be closed to the public. At either party's request (personally or through their attorney), the court must exclude the public from divorce proceedings unless the other party objects.

When the court orders public exclusion, only the parties, their attorneys, court officers, and witnesses may be present. This privacy protection can be particularly valuable in fault-based divorces involving sensitive allegations.

Strategic Considerations: Choosing Your Grounds

Deciding whether to pursue fault-based or no-fault divorce involves weighing several factors:

Choose no-fault divorce when:

• You want to minimize conflict and maintain civility
• Privacy about marital details is important
• You want faster, less expensive proceedings
• You're willing to negotiate equitably without proving wrongdoing
• Children are involved and you want to minimize their exposure to conflict
• You can reach agreement on major divorce terms

Consider fault-based divorce when:

• Proving misconduct significantly impacts spousal support or property division
• Your spouse's conduct involved financial waste requiring compensation
• Documentation of abuse is necessary for custody considerations
• The fault impacts your case in ways that justify the additional expense and time
• Your spouse contests the divorce and you need strong grounds to proceed

Most Maine divorces proceed on no-fault grounds because the benefits of reduced conflict, faster resolution, and lower costs outweigh any advantages of proving fault.

Working with Family Law Attorneys

Whether pursuing fault-based or no-fault divorce, consulting with an experienced family law attorney helps you understand your options and make informed decisions. Attorneys can:

• Evaluate whether fault-based grounds serve your interests
• Gather evidence if you choose to prove fault
• Negotiate favorable settlement terms
• Represent you in contested proceedings
• Ensure all legal requirements are met
• Protect your rights throughout the divorce process

Fault-based divorces particularly benefit from attorney representation, as proving misconduct requires legal expertise in evidence gathering, witness preparation, and courtroom advocacy.

The Divorce Process Timeline

Understanding how grounds for divorce affect the overall timeline helps set realistic expectations:

These are general estimates. Individual circumstances, court backlogs, and the level of conflict between parties significantly impact actual timelines.

Before You File a Divorce in Maine

Maine's divorce causes include both no-fault grounds based on irreconcilable differences and seven fault-based grounds addressing specific marital misconduct. Most couples choose no-fault divorce for its simplicity, privacy, and reduced conflict. However, fault-based grounds remain available when proving misconduct serves legitimate purposes related to spousal support, property division, or other divorce terms.

Understanding the grounds for divorce in Maine, how they affect divorce proceedings, and the strategic considerations involved in choosing between fault and no-fault approaches helps you make informed decisions about ending your marriage. Whether you proceed with a straightforward no-fault divorce or navigate the complexities of proving fault, knowing your options and their implications positions you to protect your interests while moving toward a new chapter in your life.