Posted on December 17, 2009 by Kysa Crusco

Sexters Beware! Evidence of infidelity in the digital age

Unless you have been living under a rock the last few weeks, you have come across the Tiger Woods story. The car crash, the rumors of domestic violence, and, of course, the cheating. According to reports, Elin discovered the affair by going through Tiger's phone records. Jaimee Grubbs, one of Tiger's many mistresses, has come forward with more than 300 flirty, steamy text messages as evidence of the affair. As smartly phrased by Laura Holson of the New York Times, text messages are the new digital lipstick on the collar.

Tiger is not the only person of notoriety to be caught by a text message. Detroit's former major, Kwame Kilpatrick, went to jail after lying about an affair with an aide and then having sexually explicit test messages surface. Senator John Ensign was caught having an affair when his mistresses husband, who was also his aide, found text messages on Senator Ensign's phone. And the list goes on and  on.

Otherwise intelligent men and women seem to believe that the digital evidence of their trysts disappear into the ether with their texts, never to be seen again. That is, until your spouse or her attorney dig it up. Daniel Clement, of the New York Divorce Report writes:

In the end, text messages are just the latest tool in the arsenal to catch cheating spouses. Telephone records, emails and charge card receipts have long provided clues to affairs. E-Z passes and Metro-card, too, provide a time stamped trail of where someone has been. It is only time until some spouse finds his significant other “tagged” in an embrace or some other compromising position on someone’s Facebook page.

So, especially in the State of New Hampshire where divorcing spouses may plead fault grounds, sexters beware! Evidence of infidelity in the digital age is easy to find, and divorce attorneys know where to look. The evidence will most likely come to light before or during your divorce. If you do not want to be caught, refrain from the affair.

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Posted on November 24, 2008 by Kysa Crusco

Alienation of affection is not an available action in New Hampshire

Question:

My wife cheated on me and I want to sue her and her new boyfriend for alienation of affections. How do I proceed?

Answer:

An alienation of affection claim is a lawsuit where a spouse sues a third party who is allegedly responsible for the destruction of the marriage. There are three elements that a plaintiff must prove:

1)      The marriage entailed love between the spouses in some degree;

2)      The spousal love was alienated and destroyed; and

3)      Defendant’s willful and malicious conduct contributed to or caused the loss of affection.

However, New Hampshire no longer allows actions for alienation of affection pursuant to NH RSA 460:2 which reads: “No damages shall be allowed to either spouse in any action based on alienation of the affections of the other spouse.” The only states to still allow alienation of affection law suits are: Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah.

Although New Hampshire does not recognize alienation of affection as a cause of action, New Hampshire is a state that allows fault grounds, such as adultery, in a divorce. Read more here about fault grounds.

Crusco Law Office Law Clerk Marisa L. Ulloa contributed to this post.

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Posted on May 30, 2008 by Kysa Crusco

What are fault grounds?

New Hampshire is a state that recognizes both fault and no-fault grounds for divorce. The no-fault grounds allege that "irreconcilable differences which have caused the irremediable breakdown of the marriage." In other words, the parties just cannot get along and there is no hope of fixing the marriage.

New Hampshire recognizes the following fault grounds:

  • Impotency of either party. 
  • Adultery of either party. 
  • Extreme cruelty of either party to the other. 
  • Conviction of either party, in any state or federal district, of a crime punishable with imprisonment for more than one year and actual imprisonment under such conviction. 
  • When either party has so treated the other as seriously to injure health or endanger reason. 
  • When either party has been absent two years together, and has not been heard of. 
  • When either party is an habitual drunkard, and has been such for 2 years together. 
  • When either party has joined any religious sect or society which professes to believe the relation of husband and wife unlawful, and has refused to cohabit with the other for 6 months together. 
  • When either party, without sufficient cause, and without the consent of the other, has abandoned and refused, for 2 years together, to cohabit with the other.

In order to prevail in the divorce on fault grounds, the party alleging the fault must be an "innocent spouse." For example, a party cannot allege that the breakdown of the marriage was caused by the other parties adultery, when that party contributed to the breakdown by being an habitual drunk. Even if a party does not prove fault grounds, they are still entitled to a divorce based upon irreconcilable differences.

 

 

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