Divorce

[pjm007]

Hello, My wife have been separated officially (living apart)since October, last year. I wasn't looking for anyone else but met a girl about 3 weeks ago, we get on extremely well. I told my estranged wife about this and now she says she wants to get divorced using adultery as the reason, Is she right to do this ? especially as she has advertised herself on a dating website (claiming to be divorced). Thanks in advance.

[redcrx]

does it matter? its just a way of getting the divorce, it has no real affect on the mortgage.

Surely if youve moved on then a divorce is just the next step and better now than waiting 2 years for one on seperation grounds.

Youre obviously still on good terms with your ex if youve told her about new girlfriend so youd hope that the divorce would be amicable

[fredpuli47]

It doesn't matter which party 'commits adultery'. The court doesn't think in terms of a 'guilty party'.It won't be looking to apportion blame or punish anyone. So it wouldn't make the slightest difference if you could prove that your wife had committed adultery.

The law requires proof that 'the marriage has irretrievably broken down'.That is , strictly speaking, the only ground for divorce. One of the facts which the law gives as justifying that finding is that one spouse has committed adultery and the other finds it intolerable to live together with him/her. The 'advantages' of pleading that are that ,unlike other facts which a spouse may use, a) it means that the divorce can go ahead straight away (rather than waiting for the parties to be living apart for at least two years) and b) it's more pleasant for everyone than claiming that the other party has been committing such unreasonable behaviour that the other finds it intolerable to live with them.(I don't suggest that's the case here !)

[froggequene]

I think you should consult a solicitor about this


I have some questions myself .

When you say pjm007 separated officially does that mean you gone through some legal formal process to register the fact or just that one of you moved out?

For our legal experts, If there is a LEGAL, formal separation, can one party still claim adultery as grounds for divorce even though it's occured after a legal separation?

[pjm007]

Hi, thanks for the replies. When I say officially I just mean that we sold the house (in October last), split the monies that were left and both went into separate rented accomodation. We have two children who I see regularly.
Sometimes its amicable but since I told her about my new girlfriend she has shown her true colours (jealousy, sarcasm and irrational behaviour, in the main).
A couple of months ago she joined a dating website and suggested I do the same (I wasn't too keen at the time) which I did.
When I first told her about my girlfriend she seemed pleased and wished me all the best, then the other day she asked if she could meet her to which we all agreed, it went ok, it remained civil and peaceful. Then after an hour I got a text accusing me of knowing her for a long time, etc. Telling me I am a selfish ******* and the kids are crying. I called to find out what that was all about but all I got was a barrage of abuse.
I don't suppose it really matters about the reason for divorce, it just seems a bit premature and unreasonable to use adultery as the cause.

Thanks.