19-5-3
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19-5-3.
The
following grounds shall be sufficient to authorize the granting of a total
divorce:
(1)
Intermarriage by persons within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity or
affinity;
(2)
Mental incapacity at the time of the marriage;
(3)
Impotency at the time of the marriage;
(4)
Force, menace, duress, or fraud in obtaining the marriage;
(5)
Pregnancy of the wife by a man other than the husband, at the time of the
marriage, unknown to the husband;
(6)
Adultery in either of the parties after marriage;
(7)
Willful and continued desertion by either of the parties for the term of one
year;
(8)
The conviction of either party for an offense involving moral turpitude, under
which he is sentenced to imprisonment in a penal institution for a term of two
years or longer;
(9)
Habitual intoxication;
(10)
Cruel treatment, which shall consist of the willful infliction of pain, bodily
or mental, upon the complaining party, such as reasonably justifies apprehension
of danger to life, limb, or health;
(11)
Incurable mental illness. No divorce shall be granted upon this ground unless
the mentally ill party has been adjudged mentally ill by a court of competent
jurisdiction or has been certified to be mentally ill by two physicians who have
personally examined the party; and he has been confined in an institution for
the mentally ill or has been under continuous treatment for mental illness for a
period of at least two years immediately preceding the commencement of the
action; and the superintendent or other chief executive officer of the
institution and one competent physician appointed by the court, after a thorough
examination, make a certified statement under oath that it is their opinion that
the party evidences such a want of reason, memory, and intelligence as to
prevent the party from comprehending the nature, duties, and consequences of the
marriage relationship and that, in the light of present day medical knowledge,
recovery of the party´s mental health cannot be expected at any time during
his life. Notice of the action must be served upon the guardian of the person of
the mentally ill person and upon the superintendent or other chief executive
officer of the institution in which the person is confined. In the event that
there is no guardian of the person, then notice of the action shall be served
upon a guardian ad litem, who shall be appointed by the court in which the
divorce action is filed, and upon the superintendent or chief executive officer
of the institution in which the person is confined. The guardian and
superintendent shall be entitled to appear and be heard upon the issues. The
status of the parties as to the support and maintenance of the mentally ill
person shall not be altered in any way by the granting of the divorce;
(12)
Habitual drug addiction, which shall consist of addiction to any controlled
substance as defined in Article 2 of Chapter 13 of Title 16;
(13)
The marriage is irretrievably broken. Under no circumstances shall the court
grant a divorce on this ground until not less than 30 days from the date of
service on the respondent.