SPECIMEN GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE

This section contains examples of wording you could use in your petition, depending on your circumstances

Specimen particulars of adultery

The respondent has committed adultery and the petitioner now finds it intolerable to live with him or her.

It is no longer necessary to name the person with whom the adultery is alleged to have been committed.

Since about [insert the date] the respondent has committed
adultery at [if possible give full address] with the co-respondent.

If the co-respondent is unknown, the following particulars should be substituted:

Since about [insert the date] the respondent has lived, cohabited and frequently committed adultery at [if possible, give full address] with a [man/woman] whose name and identity are unknown to the petitioner.

If the adultery has resulted in a child:

On [insert the date], in consequence of the said adultery, the respondent was delivered of a child.

If the co-respondent has died the following particulars should be substituted:

On or about [insert the date] the respondent committed adultery at [address] with the co-respondent who subsequently died on [insert the date].

If a finding of previous adultery is relied on, and the petitioner intends to cite evidence that the respondent was found guilty of adultery in matrimonial proceedings between the co-respondent and the co-respondent’s wife at [court name] then the issue in those proceedings was whether the co-respondent and respondent had committed adultery together.

Where there has been a subsequent resumption of co-habitation:

On [insert the date] the petitioner, with the knowledge of the respondent’s said adultery, resumed cohabitation with her at [address], but the said resumption did not exceed six months, and on [insert the date] the parties have separated and have since then lived separately and apart.

Specimen particulars of intolerable behaviour

Assaults

The respondent has a bad temper and has frequently assaulted the petitioner:

This is one example; on the [insert the date] when the petitioner was watching television the respondent struck him/her about the head and face with great force with the heel of [his/her] shoe.

On the day of [insert the date] when the petitioner was about to go to work, the respondent threw a large number of plates at [his/her] head and struck [his/her] face with a brush.

[He/she] threatened to stab [him/her] with the carving knife.

On the [insert the date] the respondent threatened to break the petitioner’s head with a hammer saying [I will swing for you] then broke a glass coffee table with the hammer and said to the petitioner [that’s what will happen to your head one of these days].

Drunkenness and insulting behaviour

The following example may apply in cases of drunkenness or insulting behaviour.

Throughout the marriage the respondent has drunk to excess causing considerable distress to the petitioner despite [her/his] requests for [her/him] to moderate [her/his] drinking.

When the respondent is intoxicated [he/she] is abusive to the petitioner and habitually uses obscene language in front of the children of the family causing them great distress.

The respondent has often vomited when drunk in various parts of the matrimonial home and the petitioner has on many occasions been obliged to clean up the mess. Also on several occasions the respondent has urinated in bed and in various parts of the bedroom as a result of [his/her] excessive drinking.

Failure to maintain

The following are grounds for failure to maintain.

Throughout the marriage the respondent has kept the petitioner short of housekeeping money and has on occasions too numerous to mention provided the petitioner with no housekeeping money at all. He is a habitual gambler and during the course of the marriage has continually distressed the petitioner by running up large betting losses.

The respondent has incurred large debts as a result of his reckless and extravagant spending and the petitioner has constantly found herself besieged by the respondent’s creditors threatening to take proceedings in respect of the large debts.

The petitioner has regularly protested with the respondent about his behaviour and has begged him to reform but he has callously disregarded her entreaties, knowing the distressing effect his conduct is having on her.

Improper association

The following are grounds for improper association.

The respondent has persisted in an association with another [man/woman] [name] in such a way as to lead the petitioner to suspect that the said association is adulterous or, as the case may be, of a [lesbian/homosexual nature].

Excessive moodiness

Examples of excessive moodiness.

The respondent has since the [ ] day of [insert the date] frequently and habitually indulged in extreme fits of moodiness and silence which to his knowledge have isolated the petitioner from her and have caused her distress and anxiety.

The respondent will without warning and without cause suddenly cease to speak to the petitioner for unexplained reasons and will on such occasions cease to share the matrimonial bedroom with the petitioner and to have anything to do with her for lengthy periods of time.

On numerous occasions such periods of silence and moodiness have lasted for at least three weeks.

The respondent will also indulge in such fits of moodiness after trivial arguments about domestic matters.

As an example of the respondent’s said behaviour the petitioner refers to one occasion on or about [insert the date] when the respondent complained to the petitioner that a button was missing from his shirt and did not speak to the petitioner for two weeks thereafter.

The petitioner has frequently told the respondent of the distress, which his said behaviour has caused to her but he has been completely indifferent to the complaints.

Excessive jealousy

The following are grounds for excessive jealousy.

Since the date of the marriage the respondent has displayed an unprovoked and irrational jealousy where the petitioner is concerned which has persisted despite the remonstrance of the petitioner and despite the adverse effect which to his knowledge the respondent’s said jealousy has had on the petitioner.

The respondent frequently alleges without justification that the petitioner shows an interest in other men. He repeatedly suggests that she ‘fancies’ the milkman, the postman and the butcher. He used to watch the petitioner during the whole of the evening when at parties, and when out together on social occasions, and, invariably on their return to the matrimonial home, he accused her of ‘fancying’ another man.

On one occasion in or about [insert the date] the respondent wrongfully and to her great distress accused the petitioner of having an affair with the respondent’s 17-year-old brother.

In consequence of the respondent’s said conduct the petitioner became afraid to talk to any other men and to go out with the respondent socially. She lost sleep and had to consult a medical practitioner because of her state of anxiety.

She was prescribed tranquillisers. Because of the respondent’s said conduct the petitioner was finally compelled to leave the respondent on the [insert the date].