Why You Should Never Date During an Oklahoma Divorce

Some people are ready to move on after deciding to divorce their spouses, but not everyone realizes that dating during a divorce comes with legal risks. Any kind of sexual intercourse or pregnancy with someone other than your spouse could lead to setbacks in your Oklahoma divorce trial. This could prevent you from achieving the outcomes you want like child custody or alimony. Consider seeking help from an Oklahoma Family Lawyer if you have any concerns about this.

Consequences of Dating During an Oklahoma Divorce

Dating during Oklahoma divorces is not recommended and is often discouraged by legal professionals in the family law field because of the inherent legal risks that come with this. The legal risks come from the fact that despite the desire for you and your spouse to divorce, you are both still legally married until the divorce is finalized by a judge. This means that dating and sexual intercourse before the divorce is finalized is counted as adultery.

Adultery can have numerous negative effects on the desired outcomes of your divorce. If you and your spouse agree, you may not run into as many problems, but the situation only becomes worse when you and your spouse disagree in addition to adultery on your record. What adultery can do is decrease your chances of winning the divorce trial and could potentially lead you to lose Oklahoma child custody.

Pregnancy worsens the situation because many courts will not let you seek divorce until the child is born or a paternity test is conducted to determine the biological father of this child. Either of these alternatives can take up your time and money. To avoid this, make sure you postpone any dating until after your divorce is finalized.

How Adultery Can Impact Alimony in Oklahoma

Adultery can also have an impact on Oklahoma alimony, otherwise called spousal support. The main factor the governs how alimony is decided in family law courts is marital misconduct and illicit sexual behavior. Illicit sexual behaviors include things like deviate sexual intercourse or acts and sexual intercourse with someone other than your spouse.

Whichever spouse is caught with illicit sexual behavior could be denied alimony by the court, even during the divorce trial when temporary alimony would normally be provided. On top of this, the spouse who engaged in illicit sexual behavior might be ordered by the court to pay the other spouse alimony for a certain period of time. However, if your spouse has also engaged in illicit sexual behaviors, neither spouse will be given alimony.

Proving adultery when you want to avoid paying alimony can be difficult without the help of an experienced attorney.

Divorce Attorney in Oklahoma

You do not have to struggle through the tedious divorce process alone. Consider working with an Oklahoma Divorce Lawyer if you have questions or concerns related to your divorce. Feel free to call the Putnam Law Office today at (405)-849-9149 for a consultation. Mr. Putnam is an Oklahoma City-based attorney who is dedicated to his clients.