Both Parties at Fault

In divorce cases, many times both parties have statutory grounds for divorce.  What does the judge do then?  A discussion of this is in Kimbrough v. Kimbrough, 81 So. 3d 1187, 1188 (Miss. Ct. App. 2012) located here.  In this case the trial court granted both parties a divorce on mutual desertion.  The case was appealed and the Court of Appeals ruled that only one party may be granted a divorce on fault based grounds.  Ultimately, the trial court has to pick whose conduct is greater in being the proximate cause of the breakup of the marriage.  This can create a mess and yet another good reason for parties to proceed on irreconcilable differences.