How your affair is treated in divorce court.
While its true that hell hath no furry like a cheated-on spouse, Florida courts appear much more merciful when it comes to “punishing” the unfaithful spouse. In fact, since Florida is a “no fault” state, many judges are not terribly interested about the abhorrent details of an affair. Instead, courts tend to treat the end of a marriage similar to a dissolution of a business partnership.
However, like many areas of the law, there are always exceptions to the general rule.
Florida Statutes §61.08(1) states, in part: “The court may consider the adultery of either spouse and the circumstances thereof in determining the amount of alimony, if any, to be awarded.” Such circumstances arise when the cheating spouse’s behavior is egregious, where the affair has resulted in depletion of assets, and where there has been an ongoing relationship.
Thus, an alimony seeker may find that his or her adulterous behavior can be taken into account by a judge when determining an award for alimony, and such alimony contender should proceed with caution, as each individual judge has full discretion to decide how much or how little alimony to consider.
If you have any questions related to alimony, or require legal assistance in other areas of Family Law, you may always contact Damien McKinney of The McKinney Law Group to discuss your case further. He can be reached by phone at 813-428-3400 or by e-mail at [email protected].