Can Infidelity Be Grounds for Divorce?
One of the pillars of a successful marriage is that element of trust that should exist between the two of you and that level of trust can be immediately and irrevocably broken when an incident of infidelity occurs.
Some relationships survive that extremely difficult scenario and trust is slowly regained, while other partnerships fail at that point, leaving you to check on resources such as an online child support calculator after you are no longer together as a couple.
The key question is whether infidelity will be grounds for divorce.
It can depend on where you live
There is no definitive and conclusive answer to the question of whether infidelity is reasonable grounds for divorce on its own as different states and legal systems tend to take a slightly different view.
A fundamental point to consider is that one constant is the fact that you are required to provide a suitable reason for filing for divorce, and infidelity could well be the reason that you give.
Many legal jurisdictions will simply allow you to get divorced simply on the grounds that your relationship has broken down and you no longer wish to spend your lives together. Others will require one of you to allege fault and provide a valid reason why you wish to file for divorce.
If you state that your partner has had a sexual relationship outside of the marriage, their adultery can certainly be the catalyst for divorce proceedings.
If you go down that route, it is feasible that the injured party, the spouse who was not at fault, maybe awarded a more generous settlement compare to how their soon-to-be ex-partner fares.
The moral aspect
Once you discover that your partner has been cheating on you it can be a traumatic experience and that emotional damage may well lead you to make a decision that you are better off starting a new life without them.
In view of the fact, that is taken as a given that your marriage needs to rely on an element of trust between each other it is fair to say that if you feel that your partners lack morality has damaged the way you feel about them you may well decide that divorce is the best option.
You may, at that point, decide that you will simply apply for a divorce without citing infidelity as grounds for legally separating, or you could take the view that you will give this as the reason for taking that action.
Always best to get help
Once the subject of divorce rears its ugly head it is safe to say that emotions will run high and it may be difficult to think straight and make the right decisions.
Divorce can be a complicated and expensive process, especially if you don’t make the right choices at various points in the proceedings, which is why it makes a lot of sense to get professional legal guidance in the form of an attorney who has experience in these matters.
In many ways, from a legal as well as a moral standpoint, infidelity could well be grounds for divorce.