I live in Fall River Massachusetts and I have recently found out over the holiday season that my husband of 15 years has been cheating on me. I want to know if I can file for divorce based on him cheating on me and ruining our family? Also I know who the woman is, can I sue her for pain and suffering and breaking up our family and my marriage? Please any help is appreciated.
Answer:
To answer your first question, the answer is yes you can file for divorce based on cheating or infidelity. There are several kinds of divorce in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, basically there’s a no-fault divorce or in other terms called and irreconcilable breakdown of the marriage. These are the easiest divorce is to file, as there is a lot less paperwork and less court appearances. Even though the court does allow for marriages to be dissolved in a divorce based on cheating or infidelity, only in very specific circumstances would I ever advise one of my clients to use this at as a means of obtaining a divorce. If this was a marriage of over 20 years, where the wife didn’t have any form of income or means of supporting herself and was completely relied upon feeding herself and keeping a roof over her head by the money her husband brought into the marriage and the number of other situations where money was going to be a huge factor, and I was going to be fighting tooth and nail to get that particular woman everything she deserves and just for added strength I would use the infidelity. But the simple fact is, regardless how much it hurts you, the courts simply do not care about cheating anymore. Unless it was going to in some way help the money situation for one of my clients, I simply wouldn’t use this means of filing for divorce. If you want a divorce there are much easier and cheaper ways to obtain a divorce and if your attorney is attempting to push cheating as a means of doing it, then you know you have an attorney this simply wants to rack up billable hours and is not looking after your best interest. This is why it’s always important to have an experienced and honest family law attorney working on your side, because filing the wrong type of divorce can end up costing you thousands in the long run.
To answer your second question, no you cannot sue the woman your husband is cheating on you with. You have no contractual obligation from that person to you and the pain and suffering you are feeling is not something you can receive damages for in a court of law.
Joseph F. Botelho, Esq.
BOTELHO LAW GROUP
Attorneys At Law
901 Eastern Ave.
Unit 2
Fall River, MA 02723
Office: 888-269-0688
Email: jbotelho@botelholawgroup.com
https://www.botelholawgroup.com/
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