GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT · FAMILY LAW + FAMILY-VIOLENCE DEFENSE
Connecticut is a no-fault state. The ground nearly everyone uses is that the marriage has broken down irretrievably under C.G.S. §46b-40(c).
You do not have to prove your spouse did anything wrong, and your spouse cannot prevent the divorce by disagreeing that the marriage is over. If one person says the marriage has broken down irretrievably, the court can dissolve it.
A spouse can contest the financial terms and the arrangements for children. They cannot contest the fact of the divorce.
Section 46b-40(c) retains a list of fault grounds, including adultery, intolerable cruelty, wilful desertion for one year with total neglect of duty, absence for seven years, habitual intemperance, fraudulent contract, certain imprisonment, and certain mental illness. The statute also provides a ground based on living apart for eighteen months by reason of incompatibility.
They are pleaded occasionally, and they are rarely necessary.
Here is the point most pages miss. Fault does not usually need to be a ground, because it already enters the case as a factor.
Both C.G.S. §46b-81, which governs property division, and C.G.S. §46b-82, which governs alimony, direct the court to consider the causes of the dissolution. That means conduct that ended the marriage can affect the financial outcome in Connecticut in a way it cannot in many states.
Financial misconduct is the clearest example — money spent on an affair, assets dissipated, debt hidden. But it is not limited to money.
What it does not mean is that a betrayed spouse is automatically awarded more. Fault is one factor among many, and judges weigh it against everything else.
Connecticut is not a 50/50 state, and the court can reach any asset either spouse owns. How §46b-81 equitable distribution actually works.
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Connecticut has no alimony formula. What judges actually weigh under §46b-82, the types of alimony, and when an award can be changed later.
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Connecticut divorce attorney Daniel M. Morton explains property division, alimony, and the process in the Hartford Judicial District. Glastonbury office.
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Every case starts with a conversation about what you’re facing and what it would take to handle it.
