What is At-fault divorce and what are the at-fault divorce states and countries? At-fault divorce is a legal concept where one spouse can file for divorce and claim that the other spouse is at fault for the breakdown of the marriage. In such cases, the alleging spouse must prove the grounds for the divorce, such as infidelity, cruelty, or abandonment.
Different couples have different reasons for divorce. In some states in the United States, you can choose to use at-fault divorce or no-fault divorce. The obvious difference between the two is that in at-fault divorce, you are legally divorced only after a period of separation. This is the so-called “cooling off period”. In at-fault divorce, the victim has the right to immediately terminate the marriage. In no-fault divorce, the property after marriage should be half of each person, and the custody of children should be equal on both. However, if it is an at-fault divorce, some states or countries will require the party at fault to “pay more and receive less”. In some countries, at-fault divorce can also affect child custody assignment.
In the United States, there are some states that still have at-fault divorce laws, although many have shifted towards no-fault divorce laws where the breakdown of the marriage is considered sufficient grounds for divorce. The states that still have at-fault divorce laws are: Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
At-false divorce is prone to false/fake accusations and perjury?
Many advocates began to promote the amendment of the law in the direction of no-fault divorce. You may be curious, why do people prefer no-fault divorce? If you happen to divorce because your wife is having an affair and at fault, you will support at-fault divorce and be very angry with the movement of no-fault divorce. However, from another perspective, at-fault divorce will actually incentivize people (especially women since they can persuade people much easily) to plan their divorce with more motives to slander her ex-partner.
The reason is obvious. In order to let her husband become the “faulty party” under the law of at-fault divorce, so that she can get more benefits, get the his assets/property, snatch the child, and get better deals in everything. Therefore, she starts to frame him, speak ill of him, fabricate a domestic violence incident that never happened and apply for Temporary Restraint Order (TRO).
The frightening thing is that even if the act itself is illegal in order to fabricate that the husband is at fault, however, due to the shortcomings of the current family court, even if it is finally proved that these allegations do not exist, it is difficult to prove that these allegations are illegal. Even when it has been proved that it is a false accusation, if the severity is not as serious as the court determined, the party who framed it can often get away with it. Although she lied and broke the law, she does not need to be responsible. In some cases, fines are settled, but no criminal prosecution is issued. Since people never been a false accusation backfired to get the accuser criminally charged, it is rumored that sometimes lawyers will teach her clients to do this in order to get the best benefit in a at-fault divorce system. Hence, the at-fault divorce has been a target a reform by some advocates.
How do you successfully get through an at-fault divorce system?
There are several important points to note:
First, be calm. when your wife is trying to take advantage of the at-fault divorce, she will often begin to spread rumors to her close family and friends about how you mistreated her and how bad a husband (and a failed father) you were. First of all, when you see this, you will definitely go off. You’ll be be surprised and helpless, and might try to resolve with her by being nice with her. Then you will be even more angry and surprised when being nice no longer works. You have to know that it’s just a legal strategy. In the world of women, once your ex-wife decided to divorce, there is no turning back. Even though she may struggle in her heart, she still carry through the plan until the final phase – when you finally see it. It’s often too late when you see it.
Second, collect your good evidence. When you see her getting the way to divorce, try to collect evidence as much as possible. Although it is not easy to prove that you have not done something, the purpose of collecting evidence is to record you did something good, not to prove you didn’t do the bad. When your wife presents fake evidence (for example, a domestic violence incident on a certain night), you can provide evidence from other days, proving that the family was very happy every night in the past few days, and the day after she lied about the domestic violence, everyone was still happy look. It will be very helpful.
Third, collect her bad evidence. when she fabricates rumors which are not good for you, one thing you can do is: take the initiative to collect some evidence about her that may not be helpful to the lawsuit. The main purpose is to convince outsiders that what she said are not true. Please note that the most effective way to collect this kind of evidence is not the evidence of “I am good”, but the evidence of “She is bad”. This is because the reason why most people don’t believe you is because they don’t believe her (As a seemingly weak and kind mother) would do such a thing (making fake evidences and lying she’s been mistreated). If she is not lying, then you are at fault. Therefore, it is helpful to collect evidence of her bad, including but not limited to: a vicious conversation, a verbally violent phone call, a picture of her taking medicine, evidence of her own cheating…
Fourth, don’t try to convince your kids. Often when your ex-wife releases such a strategy, the child must also be one of her brainwashing targets. This part, on the contrary, does not need to be concerned. The child knows. There is no way to block the relationship between you and your child. Therefore, when it comes to the children, you can just be yourself, and you don’t need to be particularly distressed in front of your child. Do not try to tell your children that what the mother said is false. This will put a lot of pressure on your child and affect the relationship between you and your child. Don’t let this smear tactic break in and explain anymore to your children or ask your children to express loyalty to you (the father). Acting as if nothing happened in front of your children is recommended by experts.