Considering Dating During a Divorce
I’m in the middle of a divorce process with a custody battle. Will dating during that process hurt my case? I’m Tulsa Attorney James Wirth, and that is a question that we’ve received. It’s a common one that comes up. And the answer, like many things in the law, the answer is it depends.
Legal Implications of Dating During Divorce
So if you are going through a divorce process and you are dating somebody else, the other side could allege adultery as grounds for divorce. That doesn’t have a lot of practical effect. It can increase the cost of litigation because now there’s additional elements that they would have to prove. And it could make it a divorce based on cause rather than not on cause.
However, if that occurred after the separation, is the court gonna grant that? Not necessarily, but it could make things more of a mess. The bigger issue is how does it affect the kids? The fact that you’re dating someone else or the fact that if you’re committing adultery, that doesn’t have a direct connection to what is in the best interest of the children for custody, visitation, child support, all of those things.
Impact on Child Custody
It’s not a factor unless it is affecting it. So if you have another relationship and the child has been exposed to that relationship, like you’ve introduced that person there, the residing in the home, that then becomes very relevant. If the child’s exposed is around that person, then everything potentially bad that they can pull up about that person can be used against you to say that you’re making bad judgment, you’re exposing the child to this potential dangerous influence.
But if you have a relationship where you’re only seeing this person when the child is with the other person, the child is not aware of it, hasn’t been exposed to it, isn’t causing any problems, this person is not a danger, then it shouldn’t have a direct effect, or shouldn’t have effect regarding what is in the best interest of the child for custody and visitation.
Consulting with an Attorney
So it is very much a case-specific information. The safest thing to do is obviously don’t date somebody that it can’t be a problem, but that’s not always practical. And certainly we see lots of cases where there is dating going on and it doesn’t cause any problems. But it’s very fact-specific. So you wanna talk to an attorney privately and confidentially about all the specifics. You’re probably gonna wanna background check on that person.
Kind of like if you’re doing a campaign, you wanna do opposition research, you wanna find out everything that the other side could find out so you’re not surprised with it later. That’s part of the process an attorney can help you with. If you wanna talk to an attorney with my office more specifically about your case, you can go online to get that scheduled to go to makelaweasy.com.
Take the First Step: Schedule a Strategy Session
If you’re navigating a divorce with custody issues and have questions about dating during the process, take the first step and schedule a low-cost initial strategy session with our experienced attorneys. Visit makelaweasy.com to book your appointment today.
