Each state has unique grounds in which a divorce may be granted by the court. When choosing the grounds for your divorce, you should always remember that you must have sufficient proof to the court that your marital situation warrants a divorce by the grounds you are requesting the divorce to be granted.

Grounds for Filing: The Petition for Divorce must declare the appropriate Tennessee grounds upon which the divorce is being sought. The appropriate lawful ground will be that which the parties agree upon and can substantiate, or that which the filing spouse desires to prove to the court. The divorce grounds are as follows:

A divorce will be granted by the Tennessee court upon the following grounds:

(1) Irreconcilable differences; or (2) living separate and apart without cohabitation for 2 years when there are no minor children.

(1) impotence;

(2) adultery;

(3) imprisonment;

(4) alcoholism or drug addiction;

(5) wife is pregnant by another at the time of marriage without husband’s knowledge;

(6) willful desertion for 1 year;

(7) bigamy;

(8) endangering the life of the spouse;

(9) conviction of an infamous crime;

(10) abandonment for 2 years;

(11) cruel and inhuman treatment;

(12) indignities that make the spouse’s life intolerable; and

(Tennessee Code - Volume 6A, Title 36, Sections 36-4-101 and 36-4-103)

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