Question:
I found out last Friday my wife has been having an affair for some time. We have a 5 month old son. She has just signed a lease to move in with the man she has been seeing. Is this legal?
She is defying a court order to stay in our condominium with our 5 month old son by staying at the boyfriend’s house.
Answer:
While you do not define “some time”, your situation first brings to question whether you wish to pursue verification that you are the natural father of your son.
You advise that there is a court order requiring her to stay in your condominium. The information provided does not clarify the nature of the court order. If the court order is the result of a child endangerment case and designed to control your wife’s conduct toward your son, then the court may sanction her for violating the order by further restricting her parental rights.
If the court order is part of a divorce case and designed to define the rights of the parties to use of the residence, it is generally not a requirement to have to stay in the residence, but that abandoning the residence may result in adverse financial rulings in the divorce for wasting marital funds on leasing a new residence when she had a residence available to her or some other financial consequence.
As to whether it is legal for her to lease a residence with her paramour, a married woman’s rights to contract generally are not restricted but you may wish to confer with a family law attorney in your state as to the impact of her entering into a lease without your participation as it affects your liability for her debt and conduct.
Richard Coffee is a Litigation Manager in the Belleville Illinois office of Cordell & Cordell. He is an experienced divorce attorney whose practice is devoted to domestic litigation. He is licensed in the State of Illinois and is admitted to practice law in the U.S. District Courts for Northern, Central and Southern Illinois.
Mr. Coffee has extensive domestic litigation trial experience representing clients in courts throughout Illinois on all aspects of domestic litigation, including the representation of clients who are current or retired military personnel with issues under the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act and the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act, clients involved in state court jurisdictional disputes due to the relocation of one or both parties from or to Illinois, and clients with government or private pension benefit valuation and division issues.
infedelity/ affairs/financial abuse
Hello , im a father of 3 . I have been with my now ex for 15 years.On the begining of the 16th year , i found out that she has been having an affair by the 7thousand dollar phone bill money missing from the bank.She had me arrested while i was leaving the home. Our home is now at foreclosure status,the children donot want to see me , and im broke , living at my mothers and would like to have a better clue of what i could do .Thank you . nigel @ brampton ontario Canada.