You found out that your spouse was having an affair. Maybe you found messages on their phone or a friend told you what was going on. You decided that you wanted to file for a divorce to end your marriage.
Since you are angry and hurt by what happened, you’re also wondering if the court is going to punish your spouse for having the affair that led to the end of the marriage. Is that part of this process or not?
It may impact the divorce in some ways
Generally speaking, no, the divorce court is not going to do anything to punish your spouse. They have not done anything illegal, even though you may claim that it is unethical, and it is not the divorce court’s place to enforce any sort of punishment.
That being said, there are cases in which an affair can impact the outcome of the divorce process. For example, perhaps you found out that your spouse has been spending an incredible amount of money to keep the affair going and to keep it a secret. You may be able to claim that this is a financial loss on your part and that you should get more of the family’s shared assets because your spouse was dissipating those assets prior to the divorce.
Moving forward
It certainly is frustrating to find yourself in this position, but the key is to try to remove emotion from it. When you simply think of divorce as a legal solution that is going to solve the problem, then you can focus on resolving it as soon as you can and moving forward with your life. Be sure you know exactly what steps to take to accomplish this goal and focus on your own future.
