The three bases upon which a divorce can be granted are the following:
Adultery: A person has had sexual intercourse with another person since their date of marriage without the consent of their spouse;
Cruelty: One spouse has treated the other spouse either physically or emotionally in a manner, which renders their continued co-habitation impossible. This conduct must be extreme and outside of normal arguments and contact. Generally one is thinking of extreme emotional and physical abuse;
One year of separation: The parties have lived separate and apart for over one year prior to the divorce being granted. The parties generally will have lived apart for a year prior to getting their divorce. This is usually the time they have been apart but could include times they were living under the same roof if prior to physical separation they had actually started to live separate lives. The Court looks at all the factors to determine this. These include but are not limited to whether parties are still intimate, interacting as a family unit and whether or not they still share finances.
Adultery and cruelty require independent corroboration to be founded. This usually means having a third party or the offending party confirm conduct often in Affidavit form. As what amounts to adultery or cruelty can often be subjective, these grounds are not now often pursued and the most common ground is one-year separation.