Cheating Spouses
Infidelity and unfaithfulness is, unfortunately,
one of the most common grounds for divorce.
When a person is cheating on his or her
spouse, he is susceptible to a divorce
based on “adultery.” A divorce
based on adultery is just one of the “fault” kinds
of divorce. It requires the party filing
the divorce to prove that his or her
spouse broke the marital vows by committing
adultery with another person.
However, in common practice, few courts
ever really take testimony concerning
the adulterous affair. Like most other
fault grounds for divorce, the marital
misconduct is pleaded by the lawyer in
the complaint or petition for divorce,
but little attention is given to the
pleadings thereafter. Indeed, it is rare
that one person would allege adultery
as part of a divorce, and the other person
would deny it, followed by a trial to
resolve the issue.
In many cases where
adultery exists, lawyers advise their
clients to choose a less controversial,
easier, “no fault,” grounds
for divorce. Adultery by itself does
not entitle the victimized spouse to
a greater share of the property or a
higher amount of support. In some cases,
however, a person committing adultery,
may have wasted marital assets or dissipated
money on his adulterous conduct. This
situation could be quite obvious where
the unfaithful spouse has moved out of
the marital home and has begun cohabiting
with his mistress. In such a case, the
court will take interest in knowing how
financial issues are addressed. If marital
money is finding its way to the mistress,
or otherwise being diverted away from
the marriage, then the offending spouse
may be required to pay spousal support,
maintenance, or some other financial
arrangement to restore the missing money
to the marriage. As mentioned, however,
there is generally no financial penalty
to a spouse who simply has a sexual relationship
in violation of his marital vows.
In some states, where a divorce is based
on adultery, the party filing the divorce
is required to serve a copy of the divorce
papers on the mistress or paramour with
whom the spouse is cheating. The mistress
or paramour then has the right to file
appropriate papers in the case, although
this rarely occurs.
Sometimes, a husband will want to demonstrate
that his wife has been committing adultery
during the marriage as a device to defeat
her claim for alimony, spousal support,
or maintenance. In some jurisdictions,
such proof may have an impact on the
amount paid by the husband to the wife,
or by the financially stronger spouse
to the financially weaker one. In most
places, however, marital misconduct of
this sort will not defeat a claim for
alimony, spousal support, or maintenance.
Rather, it will be examined by the court
to determine the extent to which the
cheating spouse is being supported by
her new boyfriend, and the extent to
which her financial affairs and the new
boyfriend’s financial affairs are
intertwined.
|