Divorce may be sought if the other spouse, through grave marital misconduct or dishonorable or immoral conduct, has culpably disrupted the marriage to such an extent that the restoration of a union in its essence cannot be expected.
Such grave marital misconduct exists, for example, in the case of adultery, physical violence or the (groundless) refusal of sexual intercourse/procreation. But also the unjustified dissolution of the household, the gross neglect of the upbringing of the children or the non-visiting of the spouse during a (longer) hospital stay constitute such a grave misconduct. It is important here that the misconduct must be culpable. This culpable misconduct must also be causal for the breakdown. The marriage is broken if the spiritual, mental or physical fellowship between the spouses has ceased to exist and at least one of the two has definitively lost his or her will to be married.
Immoral or dishonorable conduct occurs, for example, when a spouse commits a serious crime without the other’s approval or engages in prostitution or pimping.
If there is fault, this must be stated in the judgment (finding of fault).
Fault has consequences in particular for post-marital maintenance.
