Charlotte Family Law Blog

For all of the reasons that North Carolina residents fall in love and then decide to get married, there are as many reasons that they may eventually decide to end their legal relationships. Divorce is a major issue for families all throughout the country, and recently, a list of common divorce causes was published. With reasons ranging from money to conflicts to a lack of familial support, two causes stood out as the top reasons that many marriages fail.

Lack of commitment and infidelity topped the list of marriage-ending events, with 75 percent of divorcing couples noting commitment problems in their marriages and nearly 60 percent stating that adultery and extramarital affairs affected their unions. Challenges with commitment and adultery can fray even the strongest marital unions and can leave individuals feeling as though divorce is their only option.

Marriages end for many reasons, and when they do individuals can find themselves facing many scary questions. If a North Carolina resident gave up their career to provide for their family at home, they may be fearful of how they will financially provide for themselves once they are legally untied from their spouse. Individuals who are financially dependent on their soon-to-be exes and who require financial support to maintain their lifestyles may qualify for alimony under North Carolina law.

Alimony can come in different forms, such as lump sum payments or periodic payments. However, a request for alimony may be denied if a court finds that the requesting party engaged in adultery during their marriage. Under the law, if an alimony-seeking party engaged in illicit sexual behavior during their marriage but prior to their separation then their request for support from their soon-to-be ex may be rejected.

It is somewhat unfortunate that in many quarters, the idea of a heart balm claim, which as this blog has discussed is a legal option available to North Carolina residents, gets a bad rap.

Sometimes, people see these sorts of legal actions, which allow a victim of adultery to sue their spouse's affair partner, as vindictive and a way to collect money while exacting some revenge. This may strike one is distasteful because, even though cheating is not a nice thing to do, it is for better or worse a relatively common human behavior that many have been on both ends of.

Divorce is a difficult time for any Charlotte resident, and that means bad decisions are possible. Because emotions and stress levels tend to run on high during and immediately after a divorce, people may be prone to making important financial and legal mistakes that can come back to haunt them months or even years down the road.

One of these potential mistakes is deciding to take a break from work or change careers to a lower-paying field. Of course, judges never look fondly on someone who does this with the specific plan to avoiding paying spousal support or otherwise getting an advantage in one's divorce case.