What are the recognized grounds for divorce in Rhode Island?
The Rhode Island Code § 15-5-1, § 15-5-2, and § 15-5-3.1 describe the permissible grounds for divorce in Rhode Island as follows: 1. “Civil death” or presumption of death; 2. Impotency; 3. Adultery; 4. Extreme cruelty; 5. Willful desertion for five (5) years of either of the parties, or for willful desertion for a shorter period of time in the discretion of the court; 6. For continued drunkenness; 7. For the habitual, excessive, and intemperate use of opium, morphine, or chloral; 8. For neglect and refusal, for the period of at least one year next before the filing of the petition, on the part of the husband to provide necessaries for the subsistence of his wife, the husband being of sufficient ability; and 9. For any other gross misbehavior and wickedness, in either of the parties, repugnant to and in violation of the marriage covenant. 10.
