Spouses decide to divorce for a broad range of different reasons. Some people grow apart over the years. They may find that their values and goals in life no longer align. Other times, instability is what condemns a marriage to failure.
One spouse begins an affair, and the other can no longer remain in a marriage with someone who cannot uphold their vows. Adultery is consistently one of the top reasons that people divorce. When a marriage ends because of infidelity, the spouse who didn’t cheat often hopes to receive some kind of justice from the family courts.
What influence can adultery have on the outcome of divorce proceedings?
California only offers no-fault divorce
The unfortunate reality for faithful spouses betrayed in their marriages is that California does not offer much protection for those divorcing because of adultery. The courts generally do not take marital misconduct into consideration when settling the various issues involved in a divorce.
The community property statute still applies even though one spouse may have been unfaithful to the other. The judge is unlikely to alter a property division decree based solely on the misconduct of one spouse. Adultery is unlikely to influence matters related to financial support either.
Additionally, adultery is unlikely to have any bearing on child custody determinations. Custody matters prioritize the best interests of children. Judges usually try to keep both parents involved, even when one has proven to have questionable moral character.
There is one major exception to the no-fault approach to the divorce process. In scenarios where significant financial dissipation occurred, one spouse could ask the courts to hold the other accountable for their financial misconduct. Dissipation involves the misuse of marital income or assets.
If one spouse can show that the other wasted marital income while conducting an affair, the amount of funds spent could influence the overall division of property. If the cheating spouse paid for their affair with a credit card, the other spouse could ask the courts to exclude those debts from the marital estate and hold the other spouse accountable for them.
In cases involving higher incomes and complex marital estates, a cheating spouse may have spent tens of thousands of dollars on vacations, hotel rooms, dinners and gifts as part of an affair. Barring direct financial misconduct, the unfortunate reality is that adultery is unlikely to affect the outcome of a divorce.
Learning more about how the family courts handle divorce cases can help people end their marriages with dignity while pushing for the best outcome possible. For those leaving a cheating spouse, focusing on the future rather than seeking punishment for the past may be the best path forward.
