Although the role of marital fault has been narrowed a great deal over recent years, it is still quite alive and kicking. Fault is not a factor in the divorce itself, but it does come into play with other claims that are filed with the divorce. NC acts of marital fault are listed by statute, as well as case law, decided by the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
Adultery
The deal-breaker in cases that consider marital fault is adultery but under certain exceptions, the spouse who commits fault may be given a clean slate so to speak. There are random defenses to these fault claims, but they are beyond the scope of this article. Based on my observations over the years, adultery is by far the most litigated fault ground. It is designated by statute as “illicit sexual behavior” and it “means acts of sexual or deviate sexual intercourse, deviate sexual acts, or sexual acts defined in [rape laws], voluntarily engaged in by a spouse with someone other than the other spouse.” Adultery is rarely proven by a “smoking gun” complete with photos or videos, as we see on television. In real life, adultery is proven with different types of evidence, including testimony of witnesses. Alimony may be proven with a collection of evidence, taken as a whole, not just one item of evidence.
Other Acts of Marital Fault
Other acts of marital fault include maliciously turning the other spouse outdoors, and treating him or her cruelly or barbarously endangering his or her life. Also considered marital fault is a spouse being an “excessive user of alcohol or drugs” when it makes the other person’s life intolerable. Closely related to that ground is another bad behavior: “involuntary separation of the spouses in consequence of a criminal act committed.” In other words, this refers to a spouse who is incarcerated. Although the law includes “reckless spending of the income of either party, or the destruction, waste, diversion, or concealment of assets,” as marital fault, it can be difficult to show the other person’s intent as it relates to their money management.
Indignities
Marital fault includes “other such indignities to the person of the other as to render his or her condition intolerable and life burdensome.” This quaintly worded bad behavior requires more than a single time or two, which the law deems a “course of conduct.” Our courts do not tell us exactly which bad behavior is included under this definition, preferring instead to consider it on a case by case basis. Many behaviors may qualify as marital fault. One North Carolina case says behavior included in the term “indignities” includes “unmerited reproach, studied neglect, abusive language, and other manifestations of settled hate and estrangement.” However, indignities can consist of willful failure to provide necessary subsistence according to one’s means and condition. Like the reckless spending fault, this one may be difficult to unravel because people manage their finances in many different ways.
Abandonment
In short, abandonment is a marital fault consisting of one spouse leaving the other spouse without justification. One creative attorney just made up a new fault ground in 1987, and named it “constructive” abandonment. It stuck, and the NC Court of Appeals has recognized it as marital fault. Any time the law needs to prevent some injustice from happening, it may choose to essentially pretend a certain thing exists, and they say it is “constructive.” As used here, constructive abandonment means that even if the spouses are both at home and no one physically abandoned the home, the court may choose to treat a spouse as abandoning the home anyway if the behavior was bad enough.
See: NC Gen. Stat. 52-B, NC Gen Stat. 50-7, NC Gen Stat. 50-16.1A, Evans v. Evans, 169 NC App 358 (2005), and Ellinwood v. Ellinwood, 88 N.C. App. 119 (1987)
