Texas Legal Glossary · Family Law

Insupportability

Written and reviewed by Shane M. Boasberg, founder of SMB Law, PC · Licensed in Texas since 2003 · Updated October 2026

Definition: Insupportability is the no-fault ground for divorce in Texas Family Code § 6.001, requiring only that the marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities with no reasonable expectation of reconciliation.

Also called: no-fault divorce, irreconcilable differences

What insupportability means in Texas

Insupportability is the Texas name for no-fault divorce. Under Texas Family Code § 6.001, a court may grant a divorce without regard to fault if the marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities that destroys the legitimate ends of the marital relationship and prevents any reasonable expectation of reconciliation. One spouse’s testimony that this is true is enough. The other spouse cannot block the divorce by disagreeing.

Texas also keeps its fault grounds: cruelty (§ 6.002), adultery (§ 6.003), conviction of a felony (§ 6.004), abandonment (§ 6.005), living apart for three years (§ 6.006), and confinement in a mental hospital (§ 6.007). A spouse may plead insupportability alone or alongside a fault ground. Nearly every Texas divorce pleads insupportability, and most plead nothing else.

How it works in practice

The petition recites the statutory language almost word for word. At the final hearing, the petitioner answers yes to a few questions: that the marriage has become insupportable, that the conflict has destroyed its legitimate ends, and that there is no reasonable expectation of reconciliation. No one has to describe what went wrong. In an uncontested divorce in Travis County, those questions are often answered in a prove-up affidavit rather than in open court.

Pleading a fault ground changes the tone of the case. Adultery or cruelty must be proved with evidence, which means discovery into private conduct, and the court may still grant the divorce on insupportability if the fault proof falls short. The payoff is in the property division. Under Murff v. Murff, 615 S.W.2d 696 (Tex. 1981), a court making a just and right division may consider fault in the breakup of the marriage, along with disparity in earning power, health, and the size of the separate estates.

Why it matters in your case

Insupportability lets a spouse leave a marriage without proving anything about the other spouse, and it keeps the reasons out of the public record. Fault pleadings are a tool, not a requirement. They can justify a disproportionate division when the conduct was serious and provable, and they can cost more in fees than they recover when it was not. We plead fault grounds selectively, where the evidence exists and the estate is large enough for the difference to matter.

This entry explains Texas law in general terms and is not legal advice for any specific situation. Statutes and case law change; the date above reflects the last review.