Rather, the court is required to consider that marital misconduct by the dependent spouse in deciding whether to award postseparation support and in deciding its amount . In general, most family law matters are tried only by a judge. Dating can thus receive more publicity than you ever anticipated. As a rule, marital fault plays no role in the division of marital property in North Carolina. However, one small exception to this rule is for acts which devalue marital assets.
Lawyers call such acts waste .
From the standpoint of spousal support, you can date if neither you nor your spouse is dependent, or if no one has the ability to pay support. Otherwise, it s safe to commence a dating relationship only after the date of separation. Even if you aren t planning to have sex with your dating partner and in fact are not actually having sex, your spouse might convince the fact-finder in a court proceeding that his or her circumstantial evidence of both opportunity and inclination establishes your adultery. Moreover, dating prior to divorce is not insulated from criminal prosecution, should prosecutors in North Carolina decide they have more time and resources to zealously go after adulterers. From the standpoint of property distribution, it s safe to date as long as you re not paying for the incidents of dating with marital assets.