The Divorce Act outlines that a court of competent jurisdiction may grant a divorce on the ground that there has been a breakdown of the marriage. A breakdown of a marriage is established only if:
The spouses have lived separate and apart for at least one year immediately preceding the determination of the divorce proceeding and were living separate and apart at the commencement of the proceeding; or
The spouse against whom the divorce proceeding is brought has, since the marriage:
committed adultery; or
treated the other spouse with physical or mental cruelty of such a kind as to render intolerable the continued cohabitation of the spouses.
The majority of divorces are obtained on the first ground, namely that the parties have lived separate and apart at least one year.