Divorce Defenses

A frequently asked question concerns the defenses available if you or your spouse wants to contest a divorce proceeding.

Available Defenses

Knowledge of Condition at the Time of Marriage — Premarital knowledge of a spouse’s condition may act as a bar to divorce. For example, knowledge of a premarital pregnancy or mental illness will bar a divorce based on those grounds. Premarital knowledge may also act as a bar in cases involving drunkenness, drug use, imprisonment, or impotence.
Ratification — When a spouse discovers the existence of a statutory ground for divorce, a divorce must be pursued within a reasonable amount of time. If the spouse fails to act within a reasonable time, the spouse may be found to have ratified or accepted the condition or misconduct. In one case, a husband was barred from divorcing on these grounds after he discovered his wife had a mental illness shortly after marriage but chose to remain with her through twenty years of marriage.
Mental Illness — Mental illness of a spouse may act as a bar to divorce. When divorce is based on the grounds of desertion or habitual, cruel, and inhuman treatment, mental illness is a bar to divorce. It may also act as a bar in cases involving adultery. In one case, a wife could not be found guilty of habitual, cruel, and inhuman treatment because her actions were the result of insanity.
Reformation — When a divorce is sought based on habitual drunkenness or habitual drug use, reformation is a defense. The defendant must prove that he or she has reformed and discontinued the habit.
Forgiveness — Forgiveness, or condonation, may be a defense to divorce, and it can be direct or implied. It is available as a defense to a divorce based on adultery. This often occurs when the spouses continue living together after the adultery is discovered. In one case, a court denied a divorce based on condonation where a wife ended her affair, admitted it to her husband, and the couple resumed sexual relations for at least eight months.
Connivance — Consenting to another spouse’s wrongful conduct is connivance and is a defense to divorce. A spouse who fails to object to wrongdoing has not been wronged. Although this defense is available, it has not been successful in Mississippi at the appellate level.