Does an Affair Affect a Minnesota Divorce?

How will my spouse’s affair affect our divorce?

While divorce almost always involves complex emotional and relational issues, a divorce involving an affair can be even more difficult. However, unlike some other states, Minnesota does not explicitly consider infidelity in the divorce process. Minnesota is considered a “no-fault” divorce state, meaning that spouses can become divorced even without bad action by either spouse. In short, this means that in most cases an affair is not considered at all by a judge during a divorce. However, despite this rule of thumb, there are a couple scenarios when an affair may become relevant to a divorce proceeding.

Dissipation of Marital Assets During an Affair

One instance where a judge may consider a spouse’s affair is if that affair played a significant impact on marital assets. To be more specific, a court may consider whether marital assets were dissipated by the unfaithful spouse on unreasonable spending such as lavish gifts or expensive travel costs. If a judge finds that one spouse has wasted or dissipated marital assets in this manner, they may give the other spouse a higher amount of property through division of marital property. However, this situation is rather rare and usually must be supported by significant evidence showing a clear waste of assets.

Custody and Parenting Time Concerns

While generally an affair will not have an impact on custody and parenting time issues in a divorce, it may have an impact if the new significant other has a history of domestic violence, concerning criminal conduct, or drug abuse. Just as a judge may consider the past of each parent, a judge may also take into consideration the history of a new significant other if the children may end up spending a large amount of time with that person. While the affair itself would not be a concern in this consideration, the nature of a person spending a great deal of time around the parties’ children may be analyzed. Again, courts can generally be reluctant to spend much time reviewing a spouse’s new relationships, as many divorcing spouses simply do not like the other spouse’s new significant other. However, in some cases, there can be real and substantial concerns about a significant other that merit a court’s review.

These are simply two major ways in which an affair can impact divorce proceedings in Minnesota, and certainly does not provide a complete list. There are other situations where an affair or infidelity may play a role in a divorce, and every case is different. If you have any questions about how an affair may play a role in a Minnesota divorce case, please call the divorce attorneys at RAM Law PLLC at 651-468-2103 or fill out our free consultation form.