- mental cruelty
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mental cruelty n: conduct by one spouse that renders the other's life miserable and unendurable and that is a ground for divorce
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster. 1996.
- mental cruelty
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n.In marriage, behavior by one spouse that endangers the mental health of the other or is so humiliating and unpleasant that it makes the other’s life miserable.
The Essential Law Dictionary. — Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008.
- mental cruelty
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An archaic term that in some states remains a ground for divorce, or a factor in division of marital property.Category: Divorce & Family Law → Divorce, Child Support & Custody
Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary. Gerald N. Hill, Kathleen Thompson Hill. 2009.
- mental cruelty
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n. Behavior by a spouse that threatens the life, bodily health, or psychological health of the other spouse.
Webster's New World Law Dictionary. Susan Ellis Wild. 2000.
- mental cruelty
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A course of conduct on the part of one spouse toward the other spouse that can endanger the mental and physical health and efficiency of the other spouse to such an extent as to render continuance of the marital relation intolerable. As a ground for divorce, it is conduct that causes embarrassment, humiliation, and anguish so as to render life miserable and unendurable or to cause a spouse's life, person, or health to become endangered.
Dictionary from West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 2005.
- mental cruelty
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A course of conduct on the part of one spouse toward the other spouse that can endanger the mental and physical health and efficiency of the other spouse to such an extent as to render continuance of the marital relation intolerable. As a ground for divorce, it is conduct that causes embarrassment, humiliation, and anguish so as to render life miserable and unendurable or to cause a spouse's life, person, or health to become endangered.
Short Dictionary of (mostly American) Legal Terms and Abbreviations.
- mental cruelty
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n.a term, rapidly going out of fashion and out of the statutes, which has been used to justify granting a divorce when the state laws required that some wrong had to be found in the defending spouse. In absence of actual physical cruelty (or unwillingness to discuss it) the person wanting the divorce could testify to a list of indignities ("he swore at me, he came home late, he humiliated me in front of friends, he was hateful to my mother, he read girlie magazines," or similar tales told about the wife) which would be verified by a relative or a friend to satisfy the judge that the petitioning spouse would suffer mental harm if the marriage continued and proved that there were grounds for a divorce. As "no-fault" divorce has gained favor, such charades have faded into legal history.
Law dictionary. EdwART. 2013.
