What reasons or grounds do I need to have in order to obtain a divorce?

In the U.S., necessary divorce grounds vary from state to state.  Traditionally, all of the states required the spouse seeking divorce to state and prove the fault of the other spouse as a condition to divorce.  Fault-based divorce grounds varied, often including mental cruelty, along with physical cruelty, desertion, insanity, impotency, addiction, and others.  Today, every state offers married persons the opportunity to obtain a “no-fault” divorce, which doesn’t require specific proof of fault.  Instead, the grounds for divorce are usually stated as irreconcilable differences or irretrievable breakdown of the relationship. 

No-fault divorces may require a waiting period, mandatory counseling, or other conditions in some states, especially when the parties have children.  However, fault is still not completely disregarded.  More than half of the states still allow fault-based divorce grounds, which may change the speed with which a divorce can be obtained or change other important aspects of the requests that the divorce court can grant.  In addition, even in no-fault divorces, fault often remains an issue that can affect the division of marital property, assignment of marital debts, award of spousal maintenance or alimony, and child custody or visitation.