For people considering separation or divorce, Mullaney & Mullaney recommends scheduling a free initial consultation to discuss legal options. Divorce, along with getting married, having children, and purchasing a home, is a very stressful period in life. Divorce puts a person’s family, career, and health at risk.
Pennsylvania law allows anyone to separate from or divorce his or her spouse. No one can be kept in a marriage against his or her will. A person must reside in Pennsylvania for six months in order to file for divorce.
In Pennsylvania, a marriage can be ended by divorce or annulment.
Divorce
Divorce is the legal method for ending a legally recognized marriage. Two types of divorce exist:
Fault Based, which may include one of the following:
- Marital unfaithfulness
- Abandonment
- Multiple spouses
- Barbarous treatment or burdensome conduct
- Legally insane spouse
- Imprisonment
- Domestic abuse
No Fault Based, which includes the following:
- Spouses agree “irreconcilable differences” exist
- Both spouses acknowledge Pennsylvania’s ninety-day waiting period.
- One spouse can challenge a no-fault divorce. If this happens, the other spouse can request a divorce by court decree, which finalizes a divorce after a two-year waiting period.
Annulments
An annulment is declaring a marriage to be “void” or “voidable.”
Void Marriages must involve one of the following factors:
- Marriage to multiple spouses
- Marriage involving incest
- Marriage involving an insane spouse
Voidable Marriages must involve one of the following factors:
- Intoxication at the time of marriage
- Duress
- Insufficient physical capability
- Fraud