Divorce is the formal termination of a legal marriage. The state legislature depending on its policy allows official divorces but at the same time makes attempts to prevent them, or at least to reduce the negative sequences of them, as much as this is possible.

The Court system in the United States recognizes and proceeds with two basic types of divorce: absolute and limited divorce. Courts grant absolute divorce (“divorce a vinculo matrimonii“) in case of a proven misconduct or wrongdoing by any of the spouse's parts. Limited divorce (“divorce a menso et thoro“) is much more liberal and the spouse obtain’s the right to live separately but the court refrains from officially dissolving the marriage. It is a possibility that the legal court will order both partners to continue their cohabitation for a certain period, before making a final decision. This is a case of the so called “conversion divorce”.

Some jurisdictions have enacted a so called no-fault divorce. This means that the court does not require any act of wrongdoing or misconduct in order to allow and legitimate the action of divorce.