Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina

No. Excessive drug use is not grounds for divorce. NC is a no-fault state. You have to live separate and apart for 1 year to get a divorce.

If the house is yours and the husband is unwilling to leave, then to get the separation period for divorce started, you will need to bring an action for a legal separation called a divorce from bed and board. This is not a real divorce - it is a legal separation only.

Grounds exist for a divorce from bed and board. See NC GS � 50-7, below.

Excessive drug use is among one of the recognized grounds for divorce from bed and board.

NC GS � 50-7. Grounds for divorce from bed and board.

The court may grant divorces from bed and board on application of the party injured, made as by law provided, in the following cases if either party:

(1) Abandons his or her family.

(2) Maliciously turns the other out of doors.

(3) By cruel or barbarous treatment endangers the life of the other. In addition, the court may grant the victim of such treatment the remedies available under G.S. 50B-1, et seq.

(4) Offers such indignities to the person of the other as to render his or her condition intolerable and life burdensome.

(5) Becomes an excessive user of alcohol or drugs so as to render the condition of the other spouse intolerable and the life of that spouse burdensome.

(6) Commits adultery.

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See a family law attorney who practices in the county where you reside.