There are as many reasons to get a divorce as there are stars in the sky, or at least as many as there are on-going relationships. Some are dramatic and dire and self evident, but no where near all are like that. Others fit the bill for the grounds of Irretrievably Broken. “I want a divorce because I want a divorce.”
Suppose there is no fighting, no bickering, no infidelity, no drunkenness, Nothing more substantial than, “the fit is no longer right” or “we’ve grown apart.” Those folks are entitled to a divorce, too.
At one time the fit was perfect, they had grown together so much that the union was obvious and all but mandated. Life was good and every day was a celebration of their good judgment to join forces. That was the honeymoon period.
But somewhere along the line, it stopped being fun. The joy crept out and responsibility crept in. The obligations of the day to day grew from delight to chore to druggery.
So one day, one of the parties says something like, “you know, it’s just not working for me anymore.” And the other party is shell shocked with no idea this was coming because nothing so dire ever occurred to give warning to this fatal determination.
And there it goes, even though only one party wanted to, they both move on.
They will probably find another. And life could become better with the wisdom gleaned from the demise of the relationship. But the party left behind will retain that nagging feeling that maybe the bathwater did need changing, but it was so wastefull to throw out the baby, too.
Michael Manely primarily practices from The Manely Firm headquarters in Marietta but also serves our clients in Atlanta, Lawrenceville, Canton, Gainesville, Savannah, throughout all of Georgia and all around the world.