Divorce Attorney in Dallas, Texas
Is marital misconduct such as adultery ever considered in a Texas divorce?
Is marital misconduct such as adultery ever considered in a Texas divorce?
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00:04
i will refer to
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marital misconduct as bad acts okay
00:09
and so texas just like every other state
00:12
has no fault divorce they also have all
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these fault bases
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the big ones being adultery cruel
00:19
treatment
00:20
abandonment confinement and a mental
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institution
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the thing is those those don’t come up
00:26
all that much
00:27
okay most of the time a divorce is going
00:29
to be granted based on
00:30
insupportability which just means he
00:32
can’t get along anymore where those
00:33
other factors come in more today are
00:37
in the division of the marital estate
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and what people don’t understand
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is that a lot of people think oh he
00:43
cheated or she cheated so the other side
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is just going to take him to the
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cleaners and that doesn’t happen in
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texas okay
00:50
it might be worth you know a couple
00:52
percentage points it depends on what the
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severity
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of the conduct is you know if you have
00:57
something where
00:58
uh you actually have physical abuse and
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you get
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a a finding of family violence that’s
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going to be a little different but the
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one thing
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uh or actually there are two things that
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are really important to to know here
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the more money in the marital state the
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closer it is going to be
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to an actual 50 50 division regardless
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of the bad acts the bad acts have to be
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really really bad
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to get off of 50 50 once you really kind
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of hit a certain
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level monetarily that is being divided
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the other thing is
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when you have a disparate division you
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know one side gets more one side gets
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less
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the big factor there is disparity in
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earning capacity so if you’ve got
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someone
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that’s been a stay-at-home spouse okay
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and they’ve got to go back to school uh
01:47
and the other let’s say
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is a doctor okay who’s been making a lot
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of money the whole time
01:53
that division typically is going to
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favor the non-moneyed spouse
01:58
okay the the division the disparity in
02:00
the division
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is going to be dependent on what the
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particular facts are of that case
02:05
but that’s something to remember
02:06
disparity in earning capacity is huge
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Dallas, TX family law attorney Mark Scroggins explains whether or not marital misconduct such as adultery ever considered in a Texas divorce. He points out that in Texas, marital misconduct—what he refers to as “bad acts”—plays a relatively limited role in divorce proceedings. Like every other state, Texas offers no-fault divorce, with the primary ground being in-supportability, meaning the spouses simply can’t get along. Fault-based grounds such as adultery, cruel treatment, abandonment, or confinement to a mental institution exist, but rarely affect the outcome.
He notes that many people overestimate the impact of cheating, assuming it will drastically affect the division of marital assets. In reality, such conduct might influence the division by only a few percentage points, and only if the acts are particularly severe. Physical abuse with a finding of family violence is treated differently, but generally, once the marital estate reaches a significant size, divisions approach a near 50/50 split regardless of bad acts.
He emphasizes two key points: first, the larger the marital estate, the less likely bad acts will significantly shift the division. Second, when disparities do occur, they usually hinge on differences in earning capacity. For example, a stay-at-home spouse returning to school while the other spouse is a high-earning doctor will generally receive a more favorable division to account for the income gap. He stresses that earning capacity disparity is one of the most influential factors in how property is divided.
