Alabama Divorce

Grounds are legally acceptable reasons for a divorce. A divorce in Alabama may be granted for any of the following reasons:

1. your spouse cheats on you (adultery);
2. your spouse has abandoned you for a period of at least one year immediately before filing for divorce;
3. your spouse is imprisoned for two years and the sentence is seven years or longer;
4. your spouse has committed a “crime against nature, whether with mankind or beast,” either before or after getting married;
5. your spouse becomes addicted to alcohol, opium, morphine, cocaine, or a similar drug after getting married;
6. the judge determines that you and your spouse are completely incompatible and can no longer live together;
7. your spouse has been confined to a mental hospital for five years in a row and, according to the director of the mental hospital, s/he is incurably insane;
8. there has been a complete breakdown of the marriage and reconciliation is impractical or pointless and not in the best interest of the spouses or the children;
9. the husband files for divorce because he did not know that the wife was pregnant at the time of the marriage and he is not the father of the child;
10. your spouse has committed an act of violence that threatens your life or health or when his/her conduct creates a reasonable fear of such violence;
11. when the wife has lived separate and apart from the husband without any financial support for a period of two years before filing for divorce and the wife has resided in Alabama during that time;¹ or
12. at the time of the marriage, your spouse was impotent, which is explained in the law as “physically and incurably incapacitated from entering into the marriage state”.²

¹ Ala. Code § 30-2-1
² Ala. Code § 30-2-1(a)(1); see Anonymous, 89 Ala. 291, 7 So. 100 (1890)

Alimony is financial support paid by one spouse to another. Depending on various factors, alimony can be granted once the divorce is finalized.¹ The alimony can be payable in one lump sum, by installments, or by a combination of the two.² The judge will consider different factors depending on the type of payments to be order, but in general s/he will consider:

1. the length of the marriage;
2. the age, health, and social position (station in life) of each spouse;
3. each spouse’s future prospects, such as possibilities for success, advancement, etc.;
4. the source, value, and type of property owned by each spouse;
5. the standard of living during the marriage and potential to maintain that standard; and
6. the fault of the spouses related to the cause for the divorce, when appropriate.³

Alimony will be terminated once the spouse who receives alimony has remarried or is openly “cohabitating” with a romantic partner of the same sex or opposite sex. Cohabitation involves the couple taking on marital rights, duties, and obligations even though they are not married.⁴

¹ See generally Ala. Code §§ 30-2-51; 30-2-52
² See, for example, Madden v. Madden, 399 So.2d 304 (1981)
³ See Currie v. Currie, 550 So.2d 423, 425 (Ala.Civ.App.1989)
⁴ Ala. Code § 30-2-55

While divorce laws vary by state, here are the basic steps:

• First, you must meet the residency requirements of the state in which you wish to file.
• Second, you must have “grounds” (a legally acceptable reason) to end your marriage.
• Third, you must file divorce papers and have copies sent to your spouse. (To learn more about filing a summons, preparing a petition, and service of process, go to the Starting the Court Case page in our Preparing for Court - By Yourself section.)
• Fourth, if your spouse disagrees with anything in the divorce papers, s/he will then have the opportunity to file papers telling his/her side. This is called “contesting the divorce.” In this case, you will have to attend a series of court appearances to sort the issues out. If your spouse does not disagree with anything, s/he should sign the papers and send them back to you and/or the court. This is called an “uncontested divorce.” If a certain period of time passes and your spouse does not sign the papers or file any papers of his/her own, you may be able to proceed with the divorce as an uncontested divorce anyway. You should speak to a lawyer in your state about how long you have to wait to see if your spouse answers the divorce papers before you can continue with the divorce.
• Fifth, if there is property that you need divided, or if you need financial support from your spouse, you will have to work that out in an out-of-court settlement, or in a series of court hearings. Custody may also be decided as part of your divorce.

You can find more information about service of process in our Preparing for Court – By Yourself section, in the question called What is service of process and how do I accomplish it?