Can adultery affect divorce?
In Florida, the law does not recognize infidelity as grounds for divorce. Florida is a no-fault divorce state. This means a spouse doesn’t need a specific reason to divorce their partner. If a spouse seeks a divorce, they must state the marriage is irretrievably broken. In other words, the relationship can’t be repaired. A judge then issues a divorce decree.
But what happens if one spouse has an extramarital affair? Now, is infidelity considered in divorce proceedings?
Yes…but only if there is a dissipation of assets.
Dissipation of Assets
Although marital assets are presumed to be equally divided, this is just a starting point in the search for equity in dividing assets acquired during a marriage.
Florida Statute § 61.075 provides the law relating to the division of marital assets and liabilities/debts. Part of the Statute allows the unequal distribution based on several factors, including “[t]he intentional dissipation, waste, depletion, or destruction of marital assets after . . . filing [for divorce] or within 2 years prior to the filing of [divorce]”.
An extramarital affair may lead to the dissipation of assets, provided that the cheating spouse is using marital funds to, for example, travel with a lover or provide a lover with lavish gifts. See, e.g., Rabbath v. Farid, 4 So. 3d 778 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009).
Despite a spouse being caught cheating, it doesn’t ensure the non-cheating spouse gets more assets.
For example, if an extramarital affair does not cause the waste or dissipation of marital assets, a court is less likely to consider the affair a reason to award an unequal distribution of the parties’ marital assets to the other spouse, on those grounds alone. Johnson v. Johnson, 847 So. 2d 1157 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003).
Conclusion
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