Delaware Family Law Code.
Delaware Child Support Calculator.
About Delaware Divorces.
Selected Delaware Family Code Sections
- § 1504. Jurisdiction; residence; procedure.
(a) The Family Court of the State has jurisdiction over all actions for divorce and annulment of marriage where either petitioner or respondent, at the time the action was commenced, actually resided in this State, or was stationed in this State as a member of the armed services of the United States, continuously for 6 or more months immediately preceding the commencement of the action.
(b) The procedure in divorce and annulment shall conform to the rules of the Court where the same do not contravene this title.
- § 1505. Divorce; marriage irretrievably broken and reconciliation improbable; defenses; efforts at reconciliation.
(a) The Court shall enter a decree of divorce whenever it finds that the marriage is irretrievably broken and that reconciliation is improbable.
(b) A marriage is irretrievably broken where it is characterized by:
- Voluntary separation; or
- Separation caused by respondent's misconduct; or
- Separation caused by respondent's mental illness; or
- Separation caused by incompatibility.
(c) * * *
(d) The only defense to a divorce action shall be the failure to establish either:
- The marriage of the parties; or
- Jurisdictional requirements of § 1504 of this title; or
- That the marriage is irretrievably broken; or
- A defense permitted under subsection (c) of this section because of the characterization of the marriage under subsection (b)(2) of this section.
(e) Bona fide efforts to achieve reconciliation prior to divorce, even those that include, temporarily, sleeping in the same bedroom and resumption of sexual relations, shall not interrupt any period of living separate and apart, provided that the parties have not occupied the same bedroom or had sexual relations with each other within the 30-day period immediately preceding the day the Court hears the petition for divorce.
Last Updated: 6-30-08
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