Why Proving Infidelity is Important in North Carolina

If your spouse has been unfaithful, you may want to put it all behind you and pretend that it never happened. After all, this may be an embarrassing chapter of your life, and you might feel a sense of indignity as you relive it. Putting the emotional aspects of this incident aside, it is also important to approach from a logical point of view. In North Carolina, spouses who are guilty of marital misconduct may experience serious legal consequences as they approach their divorces. Although you might want to forget all about this, you can also use it to your advantage.

That being said, you will need to prove that infidelity actually occurred before you can benefit from your former spouse’s wrongdoing. This is not always an easy process, as judges will require a lot more than just hearsay evidence. Because of the emotional aspect of this situation, it is easy to let your personal feelings impact your strategy. This is not an efficient approach, and you will need to instead focus on hard facts and reason.

Fortunately, there is help available for spouses in this situation. If you are going through a divorce, you should search for an attorney who has experience with high conflict divorces. Residents of the Charlotte region can work with our family law attorneys to gather strong evidence of your former spouse’s infidelity.

Not all states punish spouses for infidelity, but North Carolina is one of them that can. Technically speaking, adultery is a criminal offense in the Tar Heel State, but spouses rarely face any criminal charges as a result of their adulterous actions. However, North Carolina can penalize unfaithful spouses during divorce proceedings. If you can prove that your spouse was unfaithful during the marriage, then you can have a significant advantage when it comes to many aspects of your divorce, especially alimony payments.

While marital misconduct can potentially affect many aspects of your divorce, it can have the greatest effect on alimony. Alimony payments ensure that dependent spouses can continue to enjoy the standard of living to which they have grown accustomed. The spouse who has earned the majority of the household income is usually required to make these payments.

So, what happens if one spouse is guilty of adultery? First of all, it depends on which spouse engaged in infidelity. If the “paying” spouse was unfaithful, then they will almost certainly be required to pay alimony, perhaps a greater amount than usual for a longer duration of time. If the “dependent” spouse is the one guilty of infidelity, they may find it extremely difficult to receive alimony payments. In fact, the judge may bar them from receiving any alimony payments whatsoever.

If your spouse has been unfaithful, you may need to prove that this was the case in court. A judge may take several factors into account when deciding on how alimony should be handled, and any evidence of infidelity should be made available to the court. However, this is not always a straightforward task. Some spouses are very good at hiding their affairs, and you might feel like you have nothing but hearsay evidence to back up your claims.

When you work with a qualified, experienced attorney, you can gather many different types of evidence that you might not have previously considered. For example, your former spouse’s cell phone records might shed some light on their activities. Or perhaps their emails could help. You can also ask witnesses to testify on your behalf, such as a neighbor who saw evidence of the affair. Photographs may also be helpful.

In some situations, the guilty spouse can be convinced to admit to their infidelity in court. Or perhaps the person with whom they cheated will feel guilty enough to “come clean” and admit to the affair.

If you have been searching Mecklenburg or the surrounding counties for a qualified, experienced attorney, look no further than Arnold & Smith, PLLC. We have dealt with plenty of divorces in the past, and we can assist you with this difficult situation. We know that no two divorces are alike, and we will listen to the specific circumstances that surround your separation. We approach each case in a professional manner without judgment or bias. While gathering evidence is often difficult after infidelity has occurred, you can pursue a favorable legal outcome with our help. Reach out today and book a consultation at one of our many offices.