Sentence or Confinement to Prison for Five Years or More

These grounds for divorce are governed by statute:

Section 2. A divorce may also be adjudged if either party has been sentenced to confinement for life or for five years or more in a federal penal institution or in a penal or reformatory institution in this or any other state; and, after a divorce for such cause, no pardon granted to the party so sentenced shall restore such party to his or her conjugal rights.

The upper end of the sentence range will apply. A sentence to a state prison for three to six years was held to be for five years or more. Oliver v. Oliver, 169 Mass. 592, 594, 48 N.E. 843 (1897).

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