No-Fault Divorce In Michigan

Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage. In order to be able to obtain a divorce, you must meet all of the prerequisites in terms of residency before you can even file for divorce. However, just meeting the requirements to file for divorce is not enough. In order to successfully obtain a divorce in Michigan, you must convince a judge in a family court that your marital relationship has broken down beyond repair and that there is no chance of reconciling. Some judges will be satisfied with a simple yes or no answer to this question from the parties involved. Others, however, will expect specific facts and evidence. Michigan is a no fault state and we will be going over what exactly that is and what it means for your divorce. 

What is No Fault Divorce?

Michigan is a no-fault divorce state. That means that you do not have to show any wrongdoing on the part of your soon-to-be former spouse. Just the basic requirement is all that you need. However, fault may become relevant if any aspect of the divorce is contested. If there is fault with one of the parties, and the judge decides to consider that fault in the divorce judgment, that party may get a less favorable outcome in terms of division of assets, alimony, or child custody. If the divorce is uncontested (see the section below), you will most likely be unable to use that person’s fault against them.

What does “Fault” Mean?

“Fault” is a legal term that means any form of wrongdoing that would have been necessary in order to get a divorce in the era before the advent of “no-fault” divorce. This generally meant adultery, domestic violence, or things of that nature. The major takeaway is that while these factors might play into your decision to get a divorce, they are no longer necessary conditions in order for you to get your divorce finalized by a Michigan family court. 

It should be noted that, unlike many no fault states, Michigan doesn’t even offer fault divorce, nor does it have an official list of recognized fault grounds. This might make it more difficult to leverage “fault grounds” to obtain a more favorable divorce judgement.

Fault Grounds 

The judge will never actually refer to them as “fault grounds”. Furthermore, they won’t use many of the grounds that would have netted you a divorce in eras past, such as infertility/impotence. After all, the law and government no longer view child bearing as such a central and indispensable aspect of marriage. The court will only really look at infidelity, abuse, neglect/abandonment, or drug/alcohol abuse. These are factors that truly affect the interpersonal relationship between spouses and are typically the result of a willful decision by the at fault spouse. An example of the judge using these factors might be the judge giving the wife a more generous property settlement because the divorce was brought on by her husband’s cheating. Abuse, neglect, or addiction might be used to show that one of the spouses is an unfit parent, which would play into a custody determination. Abuse that causes physical injuries might become grounds for making the abusive ex -spouse pay for some of that person’s medical expenses. Criminal convictions can be relevant in multiple ways. If a criminal record/imprisonment was the root cause of the divorce, then the judge may attach moral weight to that when deciding on the distribution of property. Given the imprisoned spouse’s incarceration, it is unlikely that the court would assign greater spousal support. 

That being said, a criminal conviction is highly relevant when it comes to child custody. A conviction of any kind, especially one that involves incarceration, virtually guarantees that the other parent will receive physical custody and is likely to result in a rather strict parenting time arrangement. In fact, for certain crimes involving sexual abuse or violence towards children; the crime cou ld even result in the outright termination of the defendant’s parental rights. Not every judge will be open to these kinds of arguments, but this is the only part of the divorce process where those factors are permitted to be considered at all in Michigan family court. 

Examples of Fault Grounds 

• Adultery: marriage typically involves marital fidelity, so cheating can cause huge problems to a marriage. 
• Cruelty: A spouse is expected to love, cherish, and protect the other. In eras past, the law might have required one spouse to show that the other was behaving in a very cruel and unspouse like manner in order to get a divorce from said spouse. Nowadays such abusive behavior tends to become ammunition in disputes over custody, support, and property. 
• Abandonment: similar to Cruelty in that it implicates the duty one spouse has towards the other. In this case, it means that one spouse is not upholding their duty to provide comfort, company, and companionship to their spouse. 
• Mental illness/insanity: You do not have to spend the rest of your life with a crazy person. In the modern era, it is largely pointless in divorce proceedings because society now prefers to avoid discriminating against the mentally ill or disabled. The vast majority of family courts will refuse to give the “sane” spouse more favorable treatment on account of their former spouse’s unfortunate condition. 
• Criminal conviction: This is particularly relevant if the spouse has been incarcerated for a very lengthy period of time. 
• Religious differences: largely irrelevant due to changing attitudes and a trend against discriminating against different religions.

Conclusion 

We no longer live in a society that blindly accepts the religious (mostly Christian notion) that married couples are obligated to remain married except under very special circumstances. Society also recognizes that it is not healthy to force a couple with an irreconcilable marriage to remain together. That sort of dysfunction tends to cause problems. Furthermore, we have ample historical evidence that the old rule of fault divorce was constantly exploited and abused by married couples. Spouses would often perpetuate elaborate false scenarios of one spouse discovering the other spouse cheating in order to get a divorce. After so many dozens of cases of spouse x came in with a series of photographs depicting spouse y in a window alongside another man and the last picture is spouse Y closing the blinds on the window” the courts decided that the fault rule was pointless.

For more information on divorces in the State of Michigan watch the videos below and check out the Goldman and Associates YouTube channel for more videos on everything relating to law in Michigan. Make sure to give our attorneys a call if you have any questions about divorce in Michigan. 

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