A commonly asked question in divorce is whether cheating can be used as leverage for the other spouse to get more money or custody in a divorce. Cheating is typically defined as a physical relationship with a person who is not in the marriage. This article will discuss the legal consequences of cheating and explain why it is almost always irrelevant to financial or custody issues in a divorce.
- Cheating is not one of the grounds for divorce in California.
- There are two grounds for divorce in California: irreconcilable differences and permanent legal incapacity. You don’t need to prove cheating to get a California divorce because irreconcilable differences covers all problems or differences that make one person in the divorce want to leave the marriage.
- Typically cheating will not result in greater alimony for the other spouse.
California does not consider marital fault when determining alimony payments, so cheating typically does not factor into alimony.
- What are the factors a judge would consider in awarding alimony?
California has a list of the factors that a judge should consider when making a spousal support/alimony determination. This statute can be accessed in its entirety here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=4320.&lawCode=FAM
(a) The extent to which the earning capacity of each party is sufficient to maintain the standard of living established during the marriage, taking into account all of the following:
(1) The marketable skills of the supported party; the job market for those skills; the time and expenses required for the supported party to acquire the appropriate education or training to develop those skills; and the possible need for retraining or education to acquire other, more marketable skills or employment.
(2) The extent to which the supported party’s present or future earning capacity is impaired by periods of unemployment that were incurred during the marriage to permit the supported party to devote time to domestic duties.
(b) The extent to which the supported party contributed to the attainment of an education, training, a career position, or a license by the supporting party.
(c) The ability of the supporting party to pay spousal support, taking into account the supporting party’s earning capacity, earned and unearned income, assets, and standard of living.
(d) The needs of each party based on the standard of living established during the marriage.
(e) The obligations and assets, including the separate property, of each party.
(f) The duration of the marriage.
(g) The ability of the supported party to engage in gainful employment without unduly interfering with the interests of dependent children in the custody of the party.
(h) The age and health of the parties.
(i) All documented evidence of any history of domestic violence,
(j) The immediate and specific tax consequences to each party.
(k) The balance of the hardships to each party.
(l) The goal that the supported party shall be self-supporting within a reasonable period of time. Except in the case of a marriage of long duration as described in Section 4336, a “reasonable period of time” for purposes of this section generally shall be one-half the length of the marriage. However, nothing in this section is intended to limit the court’s discretion to order support for a greater or lesser length of time, based on any of the other factors listed in this section, Section 4336, and the circumstances of the parties.
(m) The criminal conviction of an abusive spouse shall be considered in making a reduction or elimination of a spousal support award in accordance with Section 4324.5 or 4325.
(n) Any other factors the court determines are just and equitable.
CONTACT AN EXPERIENCED DIVORCE ATTORNEY
An experienced attorney can help make the divorce process easier for you and help you make important decisions. At the Law Office of David Knecht, at 707-451-4502, we have extensive experience in divorce in California. Call us today!
