Adultery as Grounds for Divorce

If your spouse commits adultery, you may decide that you can't continue to be married to them and so might choose to divorce them on these grounds. At such an emotional and difficult time, it is important to understand how you can proceed with a divorce because of adultery, particularly as you will have a timescale in which to initiate proceedings.

Adultery and unreasonable behaviour are the two most common reasons cited in divorce petitions. UK law is not as black and white about adultery as your emotions may be and so it will be necessary for you to prove that your marriage broke down irrevocably because of your spouse's infidelity.

The following guide explains what you will need to prove, the timescales in which you must begin divorce proceedings, the impact adultery might have on a Court's view of childcare and financial matters and who will need to be named in the divorce.

What is the legal definition of adultery for a divorce?

You may feel slighted or that you have been cheated on because you find affectionate or lustful texts on your spouse's phone. Likewise, seeing your husband or wife out for a romantic meal with another person may constitute cheating to you, but as far as the law goes, adultery is committed when your spouse has sex with another person of the opposite sex and you can no longer live with them as a result.

In order to successfully divorce on the grounds of adultery in the UK, you must:

• File for the divorce within 6 months of finding out that your spouse has committed adultery.
• You must be citing the adultery of your partner, not attempting to divorce on the grounds of your own adultery.
• Your spouse must have had sex with someone of the opposite sex.

My spouse has cheated, but I don't know if they had sex. Is it still adultery?

Adultery, as far as the law is concerned, refers to a married person having sex with someone else. This means that even if you have caught your spouse on a date, using a dating app, texting/sexting another person, this does not constitute adultery for the purposes of your divorce.

It is important to remember that to cite adultery as the grounds for your divorce, you must not have lived with your spouse more than 6 months from finding out about the infidelity. If you find out and continue to live with your spouse for more than 6 months, you will need to divorce for a different reason.

How do I prove that adultery has occurred?

It is very difficult to prove that adultery has been committed if your spouse will not admit it. If your spouse will admit their infidelity and they complete the Acknowledgement of Service from the divorce petition correctly, a judge has no choice but to accept this and the divorce can be processed quickly.

However, if your spouse won't admit the adultery, there's very little chance of you being able to prove that he/she had sexual intercourse and so you may be forced to divorce on different grounds. When this happens, the most common action is to divorce on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour. In doing this, you will be required to provide 4-5 paragraphs to the court about the unreasonable behaviour of your spouse and to explain why you feel like you can no longer be married to them.

What time limits should I be aware of?

As stated previously, you must file for divorce within 6 months of finding out that your spouse has committed adultery. If you live with your spouse for longer than 6 months after finding out, the court will see this as your acceptance of their infidelity and will not allow a divorce to proceed on these grounds.

Will adultery have an impact on the financial settlements of my divorce?

It is very rare for a court to take behaviour into consideration when making financial settlements in a divorce unless they are directly concerned with monetary matters. For example, the court might consider behaviours if one spouse had committed fraud. This means that adultery is highly unlikely to have any impact on who gets what in a divorce settlement.

What does affect a financial settlement will be how long you have been married to your spouse, how many children you have, whether your earning potential has been affected by their job or lifestyle and what the earning potential is for both parties in the future.