When someone files for divorce in Texas, one of the first decisions is which ground to assert in the petition. Texas recognizes seven grounds for divorce, one of which requires no showing of fault at all. The other six require proving specific misconduct. That distinction matters more strategically than most people realize when they first sit down to talk about filing. The overwhelming majority of Texas divorces are filed on insupportability, the no-fault ground under Texas Family Code Section 6.001.[1] That is not an accident or a sign that spouses are ignoring wrongdoing. It is usually the right strategic choice, even in cases where fault genuinely exists. This article explains what each ground requires, when fault grounds carry real strategic weight, and when pleading fault simply gives the other side more to fight about while raising the cost and conflict of the case. The settlement-first approach is not about excusing bad conduct. It is about using the leverage that actually moves the case forward in Tarrant County courts.

The Seven Grounds for Divorce Under Texas Law

Texas Family Code Subchapter A, Chapter 6, lists seven grounds for divorce.[2]  One is no-fault. Six are fault-based. Here is what each requires.

Section 6.001: Insupportability (No-Fault)

The court may grant a divorce without regard to fault if the marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities that destroys the legitimate ends of the marital relationship and prevents any reasonable expectation of reconciliation.
[3] No one has to prove the other spouse did anything wrong. Either party can petition, and courts grant insupportability divorces routinely. There is no corroboration requirement and no defense available to the respondent once the petitioner asserts the marriage is insupportable.

Section 6.002: Cruelty

The court may grant a divorce in favor of one spouse if the other spouse is guilty of cruel treatment toward the complaining spouse of a nature that renders further living together insupportable.
[4] . Cruelty in this context is not limited to physical violence. Courts have found mental cruelty sufficient when the conduct is persistent and severe enough to make continued cohabitation genuinely unendurable. However, the standard requires more than a difficult or unhappy marriage.

Section 6.003: Adultery

The court may grant a divorce in favor of one spouse if the other spouse has committed adultery.
[5] Adultery means voluntary sexual intercourse with a person other than the spouse. Evidence of an emotional affair or a relationship that did not involve sexual intercourse generally does not satisfy the legal definition. Proving adultery requires more than suspicion: courts expect documentary evidence, witness testimony, or admissions.

Section 6.004: Conviction of Felony

The court may grant a divorce in favor of one spouse if, during the marriage, the other spouse has been convicted of a felony, has been imprisoned for at least one year in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, a federal penitentiary, or the penitentiary of another state, and has not been pardoned.
[6] There is one significant limitation: the court may not grant a divorce on this ground against a spouse who was convicted based on the testimony of the petitioning spouse.

Section 6.005: Abandonment

The court may grant a divorce in favor of one spouse if the other spouse left the complaining spouse with the intention of abandonment and remained away for at least one year.
[7] Both elements must be proven: the intent to abandon at the time of leaving, and the continuous absence for at least one year. A spouse who left due to safety concerns, or who left and later attempted reconciliation, may not meet the standard.

Section 6.006: Living Apart

The court may grant a divorce in favor of either spouse if the spouses have lived apart without cohabitation for at least three continuous  years.
[8] This is technically a no-fault ground because neither party needs to prove wrongdoing. However, the three-year separation requirement makes it impractical as a filing ground for most people who want to move forward without waiting years. It functions more as a fallback in long-separated marriages than as a primary filing strategy.

Section 6.007: Confinement in Mental Hospital

The court may grant a divorce in favor of one spouse if, at the time the suit is filed, the other spouse has been confined in a state or private mental hospital for at least three years, and it appears the hospitalized spouse’s mental disorder is of such a degree and nature that adjustment is unlikely, or that if adjustment occurs, a relapse is  probable.
[9] This ground requires substantial documentation and medical testimony. It applies in a narrow set of circumstances.

Why Insupportability Is Filed in the Vast Majority of Cases

Insupportability is the right starting point in most divorces for three practical reasons: it requires no proof of misconduct, it gives the respondent nothing to contest on the merits of the ground itself, and it does not foreclose using evidence of fault later in the case if the circumstances warrant it.

No Proof Required

A petitioner asserting insupportability does not need to gather evidence, identify witnesses, or prove anything other than that the marriage has broken down beyond repair. That threshold is easily met in virtually any divorce. Fault grounds, by contrast, must be proven with competent evidence. Adultery requires documentation of the relationship. Cruelty requires a record of the conduct and its effect. Abandonment requires evidence of intent and a one-year absence. Discovery in a fault-based case often involves depositions, subpoenas of records, and contested hearings, all of which drive cost and conflict.

No Defense Available

Under Section 6.008, the defenses of recrimination and condonation to a divorce suit are abolished in Texas.
[10] A respondent cannot defeat an insupportability claim by arguing that the petitioner also did something wrong, or that the petitioner forgave the conduct at some point. Once the petitioner asserts the marriage is insupportable and the 60-day waiting period passes, the court can grant the divorce. With fault grounds, the respondent has more to work with: they can contest whether the conduct occurred, whether it was serious enough to meet the legal standard, or whether the evidence is sufficient.

Fault Evidence Can Still Be Used on Property Division

Filing on insupportability does not mean surrendering the ability to introduce fault evidence. Under Texas Family Code Section 7.001, courts divide the community estate in a manner that is just and right, with due regard for the rights of each spouse and any children of the marriage.
[11] Courts may consider fault in the breakup of the marriage as one factor in determining what a just and right division looks like, even when the divorce is filed on insupportability. A spouse who can prove adultery or cruelty may still obtain a disproportionate share of the community estate through the just and right analysis, without needing to formally plead fault as the ground for divorce.

This distinction is one of the most important in deciding how to approach the grounds question. Pleading fault opens a separate litigation track. Introducing fault evidence during property division uses the same facts more efficiently, often at lower cost and with less escalation of the overall case.

When Fault Grounds Actually Matter Strategically

There are circumstances where pleading a fault ground is the right decision. The question is always whether the strategic benefit justifies the added cost, burden of proof, and conflict that fault litigation introduces.

When the Property Estate Is Large and the Conduct Is Well-Documented

Fault grounds for divorce carry the most strategic weight when the community estate is substantial and the misconduct is documented well enough to prove. A spouse who committed clear adultery, and where that adultery can be proven with text messages, financial records showing expenditures on the affair, or witness testimony, presents a different calculus than a spouse where the suspicion exists but the evidence does not. For a large estate where a disproportionate division of even a small percentage represents a significant dollar amount, the additional litigation burden may be worth carrying.
[12] For a modest estate, the same litigation often costs more in attorney fees than any additional share gained.

When Cruelty Supports a Safety Narrative

When one spouse has a documented history of physical or emotional cruelty, pleading that ground can serve a purpose beyond property division. It establishes a factual record that may be relevant to custody, to requests for protective orders, or to the narrative the court hears about the marriage. In cases involving family violence, the interplay between fault grounds, protective orders, and the 60-day waiting period exception makes the ground selection more consequential than in a standard economic dispute.

When Spousal Maintenance Is in Play

Fault can affect spousal maintenance as well as property division. Texas Family Code Section 8.051 governs maintenance eligibility.
[13] A spouse seeking maintenance based on a 10-year marriage who also has evidence of the other spouse’s fault may use that evidence to support a larger or longer maintenance award. Conversely, a spouse who was at fault in the breakup of the marriage may face reduced maintenance awards. For cases where maintenance is a significant issue, the relationship between fault and the maintenance analysis should factor into ground selection. More detail on how Texas courts handle spousal maintenance is on the firm’s spousal support page.

When the Goal Is Leverage, Not Punishment

Sometimes fault is pleaded not because the case will go to trial on that issue, but because it creates a credible negotiating position. A well-documented adultery claim, raised at the outset of a contested case, may shift the other party’s willingness to negotiate on property division without the case ever going to a fault hearing. The leverage comes from the other party’s awareness of what a judge could hear and how that might affect the just and right analysis. This is different from pleading fault as an emotional outlet, which rarely produces a proportional result.

When Pleading Fault Adds Cost Without Adding Leverage

The case for insupportability is strongest when the conduct, while genuinely hurtful, is either hard to prove, unlikely to move the property needle significantly, or likely to entrench the other side in a way that prevents settlement.

Emotional affairs and non-sexual relationships. Courts require proof of sexual intercourse for adultery under Texas law. A documented emotional affair, or a relationship that had not yet become physical, does not meet the statutory standard. Pursuing an adultery ground on that basis invites contested litigation while the evidence does not satisfy the legal definition.

Marital unhappiness and personal grievances. Cruelty under Section 6.002 requires conduct that renders continued cohabitation insupportable, a higher bar than a difficult marriage or repeated arguments. Courts distinguish between marriages that were miserable and marriages where the conduct was legally sufficient to constitute cruelty. Asserting cruelty on facts that fall short of the standard invites a contested hearing without a reliable outcome.

Modest community estates. In cases where the community property is modest and both spouses are moving forward with limited assets, fault litigation may cost more in attorney fees than any incremental share of the property it produces. The just and right analysis already gives the court discretion to account for fault as one of many factors, without needing a formal fault ground as the filing basis.

Cases where settlement is the realistic path. Filing on fault in a case that is ultimately going to resolve through mediation or negotiated agreement can entrench the other side, raise the emotional temperature of the case, and make settlement harder to reach. The filing sets a tone. If the goal is resolution rather than vindication, insupportability supports that tone.

The Property Division Connection: What Courts Actually Consider

Understanding how Texas courts handle community property division is essential to the grounds decision, because the two are directly linked. Courts divide community property in a just and right manner, not necessarily equally. [14] Fault in the breakup of the marriage is one factor among many that courts weigh in determining what just and right looks like in a specific case. Other factors courts commonly consider in a disproportionate division analysis include:
  • The disparity in earning capacity between the spouses
  • The relative education and future employability of each spouse
  • The age, health, and physical condition of each spouse
  • The size of each spouse’s separate estate
  • The nature of the community property and each spouse’s contribution to building it
  • The needs of the children and which spouse will bear the primary parenting burden post-divorce
Fault is a real factor in this analysis, but it is one factor among many. A spouse who can demonstrate adultery or cruelty, and whose attorney presents that evidence effectively in the property hearing, can achieve a disproportionate division without the added burden of a contested fault trial on the ground itself. A board-certified family law attorney who knows Tarrant County courts can assess whether the facts in your case are likely to move the property needle enough to justify the fault track, or whether the same outcome is more efficiently achieved through the just and right analysis alone.

The Right Ground Is a Strategic Decision, Not an Emotional One

One of the most common mistakes in ground selection is treating it as an opportunity to put the other spouse’s conduct on record for its own sake. The purpose of pleading a fault ground is to gain a specific, measurable legal advantage. When that advantage is real and proportional to the additional cost and conflict, fault grounds are worth pursuing. When the advantage is speculative or the conduct is hard to prove, insupportability is almost always the better choice.

The settlement-first posture that Cutrer Law Group brings to every case is not about ignoring what happened in the marriage. It is about building a strategy around the legal tools that produce the outcome the client needs, at the lowest cost in time, money, and conflict. That sometimes means pleading fault. More often it means filing on insupportability, then using the evidence of misconduct strategically within the just and right property division analysis.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the grounds for divorce in Texas?
Texas recognizes seven grounds for divorce under Chapter 6 of the Texas Family Code. [15]  One is no-fault: insupportability under Section 6.001, which requires only that the marriage has become insupportable due to conflict of personalities with no reasonable expectation of reconciliation. The six fault grounds are cruelty (Section 6.002), adultery (Section 6.003), conviction of felony (Section 6.004), abandonment (Section 6.005), living apart for at least three years (Section 6.006, which is technically no-fault but requires the time element), and confinement in a mental hospital for at least three years (Section 6.007).

It can, in two ways. First, if the adultery ground under Section 6.003 is formally pleaded and proven, it can support a request for a disproportionate share of the community estate under the just and right division analysis.
[16]  Second, even without formally pleading adultery as the ground for divorce, evidence of adultery can be introduced as a factor in the property division hearing. Courts may consider fault in the breakup of the marriage as one element of the just and right analysis regardless of which ground the divorce was filed on. Whether that evidence is st

No. Under Texas Family Code Section 6.001, either spouse can petition for divorce on the ground of insupportability without proving any misconduct by the other spouse. [17] The petitioner asserts that the marriage has become insupportable due to conflict of personalities with no reasonable expectation of reconciliation. The respondent cannot defeat that claim by arguing that the marriage is not, in fact, insupportable. Texas courts grant insupportability divorces routinely.
It can, but it is one factor among many in the just and right analysis, and it is not guaranteed to produce a specific outcome. [18] Courts have discretion in how they weigh fault relative to other factors like earning capacity, age, health, and the nature of the community estate. In cases with well-documented fault and a substantial community estate, a disproportionate division in favor of the non-faulting spouse is a realistic outcome. In cases with modest estates or difficult-to-prove conduct, the incremental property gain from fault litigation may not justify the added cost. A board-certified family law attorney can assess whether the facts in your specific case make fault worth pursuing.

Not Sure Which Ground Fits Your Case? Get a Clear Read Before You File.

The ground you assert in the petition sets the tone and trajectory of your case. Getting that decision right before filing is more efficient than reconsidering it after the case is underway.

Anita Cutrer is Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and our attorneys have represented Tarrant County families in both insupportability and fault-based divorces for more than 30 years. With convenient locations serving clients throughout Tarrant County and surrounding communities, a free case evaluation provides a direct conversation about your specific situation, what the evidence supports, and which approach gives you the most control over the outcome. Call (817) 854-1651 or book your consultation online.

Sources

[1] Texas Family Code § 6.001 — Insupportability (no-fault ground) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[2] Texas Family Code §§ 6.001-6.007 — All seven grounds for divorce | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[3] Texas Family Code § 6.001 — Full statutory text: insupportability | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[4] Texas Family Code § 6.002 — Cruelty: renders further living together insupportable | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[5] Texas Family Code § 6.003 — Adultery | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[6] Texas Family Code § 6.004 — Conviction of felony; imprisonment at least one year; not pardoned | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[7] Texas Family Code § 6.005 — Abandonment: intent to abandon, remained away at least one year | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[8] Texas Family Code § 6.006 — Living apart without cohabitation for at least three years | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[9] Texas Family Code § 6.007 — Confinement in mental hospital: at least three years, adjustment unlikely | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[10] Texas Family Code § 6.008 — Defenses of recrimination and condonation abolished | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[11] Texas Family Code § 7.001 — Just and right division of community estate; fault as one factor | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.7.htm

[12] Texas Family Code § 7.001 — Court discretion in disproportionate division | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.7.htm

[13] Texas Family Code § 8.051 — Spousal maintenance eligibility; fault as relevant factor | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.8.htm

[14] Texas Family Code § 7.001 — Just and right division standard; multiple factors | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.7.htm

[15] Texas Family Code §§ 6.001-6.007 — Seven grounds for divorce (FAQ) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[16] Texas Family Code §§ 6.003, 7.001 — Adultery ground; just and right property division | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.7.htm

[17] Texas Family Code § 6.001 — No reason required; insupportability is sufficient | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.6.htm

[18] Texas Family Code § 7.001 — Fault as one factor in just and right analysis | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.7.htm