Divorce in Vermont can occur for a variety of reasons, though most cases are filed under the no-fault system. The state also recognizes fault-based grounds, which may impact negotiations, settlements, or court considerations in certain circumstances.
Legal Grounds for Divorce in Vermont
Vermont laws recognize both fault-based and no-fault grounds for divorce. Understanding these legal Vermont divorce causes is essential for anyone considering ending their marriage.
No-Fault Divorce
The most common ground for divorce in Vermont is the no-fault option. To qualify for a no-fault divorce under Vermont laws, you and your spouse must live separate and apart for six consecutive months, and the court must find that resuming marital relations is not reasonably probable.
"Living separate and apart" doesn't necessarily mean you must live in different homes. Vermont courts recognize that couples can meet this requirement while still living under the same roof, as long as they maintain separate lives, separate bedrooms, separate finances, and no marital relations. However, judges examine these situations carefully to ensure the separation is genuine.
This six-month separation period must be complete before the final hearing. If you file for divorce before reaching the six-month mark, the judge cannot grant your divorce until the full separation period has passed. This waiting period gives couples time to reconsider and potentially reconcile before permanently ending their marriage.
Fault-Based Grounds for Divorce in Vermont
While most Vermont divorces proceed on no-fault grounds, the state still recognizes several fault-based grounds for divorce in Vermont. These traditional fault grounds include:
Adultery
When either spouse engages in sexual relations with someone outside the marriage, this constitutes grounds for divorce. However, proving adultery requires evidence, which can make the divorce process more contentious and expensive.
Intolerable Severity
This ground, similar to cruelty in other states, applies when one spouse's conduct has endangered the other's physical or mental health. The behavior must be severe enough that continuing the marriage would be intolerable for the affected spouse.
Willful Desertion
If your spouse has willfully deserted you or has been absent for seven years without any communication, you can file for divorce on this ground. This applies when a spouse leaves the marriage, and all contact ceases for an extended period.
Refusal to Provide Support
When one spouse has the financial or physical ability to support the other but persistently refuses or neglects to do so without cause, this constitutes grounds for divorce under Vermont laws.
Imprisonment
If your spouse is sentenced to confinement at hard labor in Vermont state prison for life or three years or more (or receives an equivalent sentence in another jurisdiction), and is actually confined when you file, this provides grounds for divorce.
Permanent Incapacity Due to Mental Condition
When a spouse suffers permanent incapacity due to a mental condition or psychiatric disability, this may constitute grounds for divorce, though specific procedures apply to these cases.
Why Most Couples Choose No-Fault Divorce
Despite the availability of fault grounds, most Vermont couples choose the no-fault separation option. Fault-based divorces typically take longer, cost more in legal fees, and create more conflict between spouses. When you file based on fault grounds, you must prove your allegations, which often requires testimony, evidence, and potentially a contested trial.
The no-fault option allows couples to end their marriage without assigning blame, reducing conflict, and making it easier to negotiate other aspects of the divorce like property division and child custody. For couples with minor children, reducing conflict benefits everyone, especially the kids who must maintain relationships with both parents after the divorce.
Common Vermont Divorce Causes
Beyond the legal grounds recognized by the Vermont Superior Court, certain patterns emerge when examining why Vermont marriages actually end. Understanding these real-world Vermont divorce causes provides insight into the challenges couples face.
Financial Stress and Money Disagreements
Money problems rank among the top reasons marriages end nationwide, and Vermont is no exception. Financial stress can stem from job loss, mounting debt, different spending habits, or disagreements about financial priorities. When couples can't communicate effectively about money or face ongoing economic hardship, the strain often becomes unbearable.
Vermont's relatively stable economy helps protect some marriages from financial stress, but individual circumstances vary widely. Couples facing serious money problems often find these issues spill over into other areas of their relationship, creating conflict that ultimately leads to divorce.
Communication Breakdown
When couples stop communicating effectively or stop communicating altogether, their relationship deteriorates. Communication breakdown manifests in different ways, constant arguments, emotional withdrawal, inability to resolve conflicts, or simply growing apart over time. Many Vermont divorce cases trace back to fundamental failures in how partners communicate with each other.
Couples who live separately and apart emotionally often reach a point where they realize the marriage cannot be saved. The six-month separation requirement for no-fault divorce in Vermont often simply formalizes a reality that already exists, the couple stopped functioning as married partners long before filing divorce paperwork.
Infidelity and Trust Issues
While adultery provides legal grounds for divorce in Vermont, the emotional betrayal often causes more damage than the legal violation. Infidelity destroys trust, and many marriages cannot recover once that foundation crumbles. Even when couples attempt reconciliation after infidelity, the breach of trust often creates ongoing problems that eventually lead to divorce.
Trust issues can also arise from other behaviors beyond sexual infidelity, including financial deception, hidden addictions, or other forms of dishonesty that undermine the marital relationship.
Substance Abuse and Addiction
Alcohol and drug abuse can devastate marriages. When one spouse struggles with addiction, it affects every aspect of the relationship, finances, parenting, emotional connection, and physical safety. The non-addicted spouse often reaches a breaking point where ending the marriage becomes necessary for their own well-being and that of any minor children.
Vermont, like many rural states, faces challenges with substance abuse. When addiction becomes a central issue in a marriage, and the affected spouse refuses treatment or repeatedly relapses, divorce often becomes the only viable option for the other partner.
Growing Apart Over Time
Not all Vermont divorce causes involve dramatic conflicts or betrayals. Sometimes couples simply grow apart. As people change over the years or decades, they may develop different interests, values, or life goals. What seemed like a perfect match at age 25 may feel incompatible by age 45.
Vermont's median marriage duration of 22.4 years, the longest in the nation, suggests that many couples stick together for extended periods before acknowledging they've grown apart. These divorces often proceed as uncontested cases since neither spouse has specific grievances; they've simply realized they want different things from life.
Domestic Violence and Abuse
When a marriage involves domestic violence or abuse, divorce becomes necessary for the victim's safety. Vermont laws recognize "intolerable severity" as grounds for divorce, covering situations where one spouse's behavior endangers the other's physical or mental health.
Victims of domestic violence face unique challenges when seeking divorce. Courts take abuse allegations seriously and can issue protective orders while the divorce proceeds. If you're experiencing domestic violence, seeking help from domestic violence organizations and experienced legal counsel is crucial.
Parenting Disagreements
Couples with minor children sometimes discover fundamental disagreements about parenting approaches. When these conflicts become severe and ongoing, they can destroy the marital relationship. Disagreements about discipline, education, religion, or other parenting decisions create constant tension that some marriages cannot withstand.
These situations become particularly complicated because ending the marriage doesn't end the need to co-parent. Couples must still work together on decisions affecting their children, even after divorce.
How Vermont's Legal Process Affects Divorce Causes
Vermont's divorce process influences how couples address the causes of their marriage breakdown.
Residency Requirements
To file for divorce in Vermont, at least one spouse must have lived in the state for six months. However, the final hearing cannot occur until one spouse has been a Vermont resident for one full year. These residency requirements mean that some couples who've decided to divorce must wait before they can legally end their marriage through the Vermont Superior Court.
The Six-Month Separation Requirement
Vermont's mandatory six-month separation period for no-fault divorce serves multiple purposes. It gives couples time to ensure they truly want to end their marriage rather than making impulsive decisions during temporary conflicts. It also allows time to address practical matters like living arrangements and financial separation.
For some couples, living separately and apart for six months confirms that divorce is the right decision. For others, the separation period leads to reconciliation. Either way, this cooling-off period affects how couples process the causes of their marital breakdown.
Impact on Property Division and Support
Vermont uses an equitable distribution system for dividing property in divorce, meaning assets are divided fairly but not necessarily equally. While the grounds for divorce in Vermont don't directly affect property division (Vermont judges focus on financial factors rather than marital fault when dividing assets), the underlying causes of the divorce often relate to issues that do matter, like one spouse's spending habits or failure to contribute financially.
Similarly, when determining spousal maintenance (alimony), judges consider factors like each spouse's financial resources and earning ability. The real-world causes of a divorce, such as one spouse supporting the other through school or sacrificing career advancement to raise children, often influence these decisions more than the legal grounds cited in the divorce complaint.
Considerations with Minor Children
When couples with minor children divorce, Vermont courts focus entirely on the best interests of the children when making custody and visitation decisions. The causes of the divorce matter only to the extent they affect parenting ability. For example, if substance abuse or domestic violence contributed to the marriage breakdown, those issues will definitely impact custody decisions.
However, general incompatibility or growing apart typically doesn't affect how judges decide parenting rights and responsibilities. Both parents generally maintain significant roles in their children's lives regardless of why the marriage ended.
Filing for Divorce in Vermont
Most Vermont divorces proceed on no-fault grounds, living separate and apart for six months, because it's simpler and less expensive than proving fault grounds. Unless you have specific reasons for filing on fault grounds (such as cases involving abandonment or extreme cruelty where establishing the facts matters for other purposes), the no-fault option usually makes more sense.
Filing on fault grounds means potentially going to trial to prove your allegations, which extends the timeline and increases legal costs. It also escalates conflict with your spouse, making it harder to negotiate settlements on other issues like property division or child custody.
Contested vs. Uncontested Divorce
Whether your divorce is contested or uncontested often relates to the underlying causes of the marriage breakdown. Couples who've grown apart amicably often can work together to reach comprehensive agreements, allowing them to file for an uncontested (stipulated) divorce.
In contrast, divorces involving betrayal, substance abuse, or high conflict typically begin as contested cases. These couples struggle to agree on anything, requiring extensive legal involvement to resolve disputes about property, support, and children.
Vermont's filing fees reflect this distinction, $90 for a stipulated divorce versus $295 for a contested divorce. More importantly, the total cost difference can be enormous. An uncontested divorce might cost just the filing fee if you handle it yourself, while a contested divorce requiring attorneys can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars.
The Nisi Period
After a judge signs the divorce decree, Vermont typically requires a 90-day "nisi period" before the divorce becomes legally final. This waiting period serves as a last opportunity for reconciliation. However, in uncontested divorces where both parties agree, couples can waive this nisi period and have the divorce become final immediately after the final hearing.
The nisi period recognizes that even after going through the entire divorce process, some couples reconsider. This final waiting period gives space for that reconsideration while protecting both spouses from hasty decisions.
Getting Help with Vermont Divorce
Regardless of the Vermont divorce causes in your situation, getting appropriate help makes the process smoother.
When to Hire an Attorney
Complex cases benefit from professional legal representation. You should strongly consider hiring an attorney if your divorce involves significant assets, business ownership, retirement accounts, domestic violence, or contested child custody. An experienced Vermont family lawyer understands how to navigate the legal system and protect your interests.
Even if you think you can handle the divorce yourself, consulting with an attorney for a few hours to review your situation and ensure you understand your rights is often money well spent.
Mediation Services
When couples can't agree on all divorce terms but want to avoid lengthy litigation, mediation offers a middle path. A neutral mediator helps couples work through disagreements and reach agreements on property, support, and parenting issues. Vermont courts may order mediation in divorce cases, and many couples find it helpful for resolving disputes without the expense and conflict of a trial.
Self-Help Resources
Vermont provides extensive self-help resources through the Vermont Judiciary website and Vermont Legal Help. These resources include forms, instructions, and information about the divorce process. For straightforward, uncontested divorces without significant assets or custody disputes, these resources may provide sufficient guidance to handle the divorce yourself.
Moving Forward After Divorce
Vermont's relatively low divorce rate suggests that most couples who marry here commit to making their marriages work long-term. When marriages do end, Vermont's legal framework provides clear processes for couples to dissolve their unions, whether through straightforward no-fault divorces or more complex fault-based proceedings.
The six-month separation requirement, one-year residency rule for final hearing, and other procedural requirements ensure that divorces aren't impulsive decisions made during temporary difficulties. These safeguards, combined with Vermont's approach to equitable property division and child-focused custody decisions, help couples navigate one of life's most challenging transitions.