You’re not against drinking alcohol, and both you and your spouse have done it for your entire marriage. However, you believe that your spouse’s situation has taken a bit of a turn toward addiction. You think that they may be suffering from alcoholism, and it’s beginning to impact the family’s finances and how safe you think it is for the children to be in the home.
But is this grounds for divorce in Georgia? Could you ask to end your marriage for the reason that your spouse is allegedly an alcoholic?
Habitual intoxication
You can choose a reason to end your marriage, and the state lists habitual intoxication as a potential grounds for divorce. While there may be some differences in opinion as to what actual alcoholism is, if you can show that your spouse has a habit of becoming intoxicated consistently, you may not need to delve into the full definitions. In other words, your spouse doesn’t necessarily have to be in a rehab center getting treatment for a medical condition for you to use their drinking as the grounds for your divorce.
You don’t need a reason
Another thing to think about, however, is that you don’t necessarily need a reason to get divorced in Georgia. You can use no-fault divorce laws to simply break up regardless of the reason. All you have to do is say that your marriage is broken or that you have irreconcilable differences. So you can use alcoholism as a reason if you’d like, but don’t feel obligated to do so.
Will it impact the case?
Something like this can actually have an impact on your divorce case, so it’s important to keep in mind if you believe this is what’s happening. For instance, when the court is dividing up custody of your children, they may take the grounds for your divorce into account. If it is shown that your spouse has actually made the home into an unsafe one for the kids, they may just get visitation rights, rather than physical custody rights.
What steps should you take?
Every case is different, of course, but this is one reason why people will sometimes use grounds for divorce even though they’re not obligated to. If you are interested in ending your marriage for any reason this year, just make sure you know what legal steps to take to make the process go smoothly.