Can Adultery Affect My Divorce Outcome?
Maryland law defines adultery as voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than their spouse and recognizes it as legal grounds for an “absolute divorce,” meaning you do not have to wait for a separation period before filing. However, you will need to prove that the adultery occurred. If you need legal guidance navigating this process and walking through the possible outcomes, let our Annapolis divorce lawyers at Oliveri & Larsen help.
How Can You Prove Adultery in Your Divorce Case?
You will need more than suspicions or accusations, however credible, to prove adultery for your divorce case. You generally need to establish that your spouse had both the opportunity and the disposition to cheat.
Depending on your case’s specifics, you may need witness testimony, photographs or videos, texts, emails, social media DMs, and financial records showing gifts, hotel stays, or other expenses related to the affair.
Furthermore, you need to obtain this evidence legally. If you hack your spouse’s email accounts, install tracking software or devices on their person without consent, or use other invasive methods, you could get your evidence thrown out and get into legal trouble on your own.
Will Adultery Automatically Impact Your Property Division?
While adultery may serve as grounds for divorce, it may not automatically impact your property division. Maryland follows an “equitable distribution” approach to dividing marital property, which means the court will try to divide your marital assets fairly, but not necessarily equally.
Courts consider factors such as the length of the marriage, economic circumstances of each spouse, contributions to the marriage (both financial and non-financial), and circumstances leading to divorce when finalizing any property division arrangement.
If your spouse’s decision to cheat financially harmed your marriage, for instance, if a spouse spent significant marital assets on their extramarital affair, the court may take that monetary burden into consideration. However, your emotional harm alone will generally not impact the division of property.
Will Adultery Affect Your Child Custody Decisions?
As with property division, adultery alone does not automatically disqualify a parent from custody. Maryland courts make custody decisions based primarily on the best interests of the child, not on whether a spouse should face punishment for marital misconduct. However, if the extramarital relationship exposed the children to inappropriate situations or demonstrated particularly poor parental judgment on the part of the unfaithful spouse, or if the new relationship includes individuals who pose a risk to the children’s well-being, these factors may sway a court’s child custody determinations.
How Might Adultery Affect Your Alimony Determinations?
In contrast, adultery can directly impact any alimony discussion. Maryland courts may adjust a spouse’s support payment amount based on one party’s or the other’s decision to cheat during the marriage. Infidelity can also sway the timeline of the payments, or even whether a spouse needs to pay alimony at all.
Find Legal Guidance From the Annapolis Divorce Lawyers at Oliveri & Larsen
If your spouse cheats on you and forces you to consider divorce, bear in mind the enormous emotional and financial strain that the process may require. You need seasoned legal guidance to get you through the process. Trust the Annapolis divorce lawyers at Oliveri & Larsen to provide you with compassionate, yet strategic representation. We approach each case with a focus on practical solutions that protect your interests while minimizing conflict whenever possible. Call our Annapolis, Maryland office at 410-295-3000 or contact us online to schedule an initial consultation. We proudly serve clients in Ocean City, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Calvert County, Harford County, Howard County, Queen Anne’s County, St. Mary’s County, Worcester County, Kent County, and the upper and lower Eastern Shores of Maryland.