Infidelity is an issue that many of my clients raise. Either that their spouse had an affair or they had an affair. They want to know how it plays out in family court, in support court, in custody court, etc. It is not nearly as effective as a defense or as an offense in any of these courts as one might expect.
How Infidelity Affects Support Court in Newtown and Doylestown Divorces
For example, in support court, if the one spouse who is seeking spousal support has an affair, that spouse may have lost his or her entitlement to receive those monies. Now, there is another way that spouse may receive money and it is called Alimony Pendente Lite (APL), and eventually alimony may be available to them as well. As far as the spouse that is not pursuing spousal support or alimony, having an affair will have zero effect on their position.
How Infidelity Affects Division of Assets in Newtown and Doylestown Divorces
As far as the division of assets, a lot of the people believe that the division of assets will be affected by their spouse having an affair, and it absolutely will not. Fault conduct is not allowed to be considered in the division of the marital estate, i.e., the equitable distribution of property. When we divide the assets, fault conduct is not going to be considered.
How Infidelity Affects Custody Court in Newtown and Doylestown Divorces
Custody court, another issue where infidelity may factor into it. Not the fact that the spouse had an affair, but the facts and circumstances of the affair, e.g., how it occurred, what the children may have or may not have seen or known or read, etc. In it of itself, an affair may not have any effect in custody court depending on the circumstances of it.
If infidelity is an issue in the case, we will explain how it can hurt or not hurt or how we can use it against the other spouse if they had an affair. We will go through all of the issues in family court. Not just the 3 issues I listed, but those are the big 3 people ask about.
We will go through all of the issues and tell you how it factors in and how we can and cannot use it. Infidelity is a fault conduct, but how it can be used in these different issues is very important to explore with our clients. We will cover all of that information with each one of our clients.