Fault Divorce in PA: Grounds, Defenses, and Costs

A fault divorce in PA is a divorce granted because one spouse proves the other engaged in specific misconduct listed in state law. It is the alternative to Pennsylvania’s no-fault options, and the main reason to pursue it is financial: a fault finding can shift alimony in your favor, though it will not change how marital property is divided. You also take on more risk, because your spouse has legal defenses available that do not exist in no-fault cases.

Who Can File

At least one spouse must have genuinely lived in Pennsylvania for the six months immediately before filing.¹ It does not matter which of you meets the requirement. If neither does, the court will dismiss the case.

Grounds for a Fault Divorce

Pennsylvania recognizes six fault grounds, and the court grants the divorce to the “innocent and injured spouse.” That means you must be the one wronged, not the one at fault.

Desertion. Your spouse left the home without reasonable cause and without your agreement, and has been gone for at least one year.²
Adultery. Your spouse had a sexual relationship with someone outside the marriage.²
Cruel and barbarous treatment. Conduct that endangered your life or health, typically severe physical abuse or behavior creating genuine fear of serious harm.²
Bigamy. Your spouse knowingly married you while still legally married to someone else.²
Imprisonment. Your spouse was convicted and sentenced to two or more years in prison.²
Indignities. A sustained pattern of conduct that made your life intolerable and burdensome. This covers ongoing disrespect, contempt, or emotional cruelty that destroyed the relationship.²

A separate ground exists for institutionalization. If your spouse has been confined in a mental institution for at least 18 months before you file, and there is no reasonable prospect of discharge within the following 18 months, a court can grant the divorce. The institution’s superintendent must provide a certificate confirming these conditions, supported by a statement from the treating physician.²

What You Have to Prove

A fault divorce lives or dies on evidence. The court will not take your word for it, and the standard is higher than in a no-fault case where both sides simply agree the marriage is over. What counts as proof depends on the ground.

Direct proof of adultery is rare. Most cases rely on circumstantial evidence: testimony from a private investigator, phone records, text messages, emails, hotel receipts, or photographs. You generally need to show both opportunity and inclination. A single suspicious text message will not carry the day; a pattern of communication combined with evidence of overnight stays can.

For desertion, you need to show the departure was without your consent, had no reasonable justification, and has lasted at least a year. Testimony from friends or family who saw it happen helps. A lease in another location, forwarded mail, or correspondence showing your spouse has no plans to return fills in the picture.

For cruel and barbarous treatment, the evidence should document severity and danger. Medical records showing injuries, police reports from domestic violence incidents, and photographs of physical harm all carry weight. Witness testimony strengthens the case considerably.

Indignities is the hardest ground to prove cleanly, because it rests on a pattern rather than a single event. Courts look for a sustained course of conduct. A detailed log of incidents with dates, testimony from friends or a therapist who observed the behavior, and written communications showing contempt all help establish the pattern a judge needs to see.

Defenses Your Spouse Can Raise

Pennsylvania still allows traditional common-law defenses against fault claims.³ A successful defense can defeat the divorce request on that ground.

Condonation. You forgave the misconduct and resumed the marital relationship. If you learned of an affair and kept living as spouses, your partner can argue you accepted the behavior.
Connivance. You consented to or facilitated the misconduct. Encouraging an affair to manufacture a divorce ground will not be rewarded.
Recrimination. You are guilty of similar misconduct. If you allege adultery but had an affair yourself, your spouse can raise this as a bar.
Provocation. Your own behavior provoked the conduct you are now complaining about.

Adultery cases carry additional specific defenses. Your spouse can defeat an adultery claim by proving that you engaged in similar conduct, resumed the sexual relationship after learning of the affair, pushed them toward the situation, or exposed them to circumstances that led to the infidelity.³ These are permanent bars, not temporary obstacles.

None of these defenses apply in no-fault cases. Pennsylvania abolished condonation, connivance, collusion, recrimination, and provocation as defenses in no-fault divorces.³ This is one of the main reasons a fault case is riskier: your spouse has a wider legal toolkit to fight back.

What Fault Actually Gets You

Alimony

Alimony is where a fault finding has real financial weight. When a Pennsylvania court decides whether to award alimony, how much, and for how long, marital misconduct is one of the factors on the list.⁴ Fault does not guarantee you will get alimony or block your spouse from getting it. It sits alongside income, earning capacity, age, health, and length of the marriage.

Timing matters. The court weighs misconduct that happened during the marriage, but misconduct after the date of final separation is excluded from the alimony analysis. The one exception is abuse: a spouse’s abuse of the other after separation can still be considered.⁴

In practice, proving fault tends to tilt the alimony decision when the other financial factors are otherwise close. If you are the lower-earning spouse, a fault finding strengthens an already reasonable request. If you are the higher earner, a finding against you can increase your exposure.

Property

Fault does not affect property division. Pennsylvania divides marital property through equitable distribution, aiming for a fair split rather than an automatic 50/50, and the statute explicitly directs the court to divide property “without regard to marital misconduct.”⁵ Proving adultery, desertion, or any other ground will not get you a larger share of the house, the savings, or the investment accounts.

Instead, the court looks at economic factors: the length of the marriage, each spouse’s income and earning capacity, contributions to the other’s education or career, the standard of living, and who will have primary custody of minor children.⁵ Tax consequences and the cost of transferring specific assets also come in. Different assets can be split at different percentages.

How a Fault Case Moves Through Court

You start by filing a Divorce Complaint with the prothonotary in the appropriate county. The complaint identifies both spouses, states Pennsylvania residency, gives the date and place of marriage, and specifies the fault ground in language that tracks the statute. If you file on the ground of indignities, the complaint must include a statement that you have been advised about the availability of marriage counseling.⁶

The complaint then has to be formally served on your spouse, who can admit the allegations, deny them, or raise one of the defenses above. If the case is contested, it moves into an evidentiary phase. The court may appoint a master to hear testimony on the disputed issues.⁷ The master gathers facts, takes testimony, and prepares a report with a recommendation. Either party can request a hearing before the judge if they disagree with the master’s findings. The judge issues the final decree.

What a Fault Divorce Costs

Fault divorces run more expensive than no-fault cases because you are building and presenting a case the other side can contest. Court filing fees are the smallest piece. In Allegheny County, for example, the base filing fee for a divorce complaint is roughly $192, with additional charges for claims like custody.⁸ Other counties charge different amounts.

Attorney fees are where the real costs accumulate. Contested fault cases require more attorney time for evidence gathering, depositions, hearings before the master, and potentially a trial. Hourly rates for Pennsylvania divorce attorneys generally fall between $250 and $450 per hour depending on experience and county.

If you are alleging adultery or another ground that benefits from surveillance, a private investigator adds another layer. Investigator rates range from $50 to several hundred dollars per hour. A straightforward surveillance case might cost a few thousand dollars; a protracted investigation can run much higher.

Fault or No-Fault

Pennsylvania’s no-fault options avoid the need to prove misconduct at all: mutual consent after a 90-day waiting period, or irretrievable breakdown after one year of separation.² For many separating couples, the financial benefit of proving fault is modest compared to the litigation costs and the emotional toll of a contested case. The fault path makes the most sense when serious misconduct has occurred, abuse is involved, or the alimony stakes are large enough that a possible shift in your favor justifies the fight. If you are weighing the options, run the numbers on likely alimony with and without a fault finding before you commit to the harder road.

1
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 23-3104 – Bases of Jurisdiction
2
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 23-3301 – Grounds for Divorce
3
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 23-3307 – Defenses
4
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 23-3701 – Alimony
5
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 23-3502 – Equitable Division of Marital Property
6
Pennsylvania Courts. Pennsylvania Code 231-1920 – Actions of Divorce or for Annulment of Marriage
7
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 23-3321 – Hearing by Master
8
Allegheny County. Family Division Fees