Divorce

Grounds are legally acceptable reasons for divorce. You can get a divorce in Idaho without alleging that your spouse is at fault if:

• you allege that there are irreconcilable differences, which means there are differences between you and your spouse that cannot be changed and have led to a breakdown of the marriage. You must show the judge that there are substantial reasons your marriage should end; or
• you can prove that you and your spouse have lived apart and in different homes continuously for at least five years.¹

The judge can also grant you a divorce in Idaho if you allege that your spouse was responsible (at fault) for the divorce for any of the following reasons:

1. Adultery - Your spouse has sexual intercourse with someone else after you’re married;²
2. Extreme cruelty – Your spouse causes you serious physical injury or causes you serious mental suffering;³
3. Willful desertion – Your spouse leaves the marriage with no plan of coming back for at least one year;⁴
4. Willful neglect – Your husband refuses to provide financial support for you, even if he is able to do so for at least one year; (Note: The law specifically uses the word “husband,” not “spouse”);⁵
5. Habitual intemperance - For at least one year, your spouse is regularly so drunk as to keep him/her from normal activity, and/or your spouse’s drunkenness causes you great mental suffering;⁶
6. Conviction of a felony - Your spouse is convicted of a felony during your marriage;⁷ or
7. Permanent insanity - Your spouse has been confined to an insane asylum for at least three years before you file, and the judge does not believe s/he will ever be sane again.⁸

¹ I.C. §§ 32-610; 32-616
² I.C. § 32-604
³ I.C. § 32-605
⁴ I.C. § 32-606
⁵ I.C. § 32-607
⁶ I.C. § 32-608
⁷ I.C. § 32-603
⁸ I.C. § 32-801