What would you do if you discovered your husband had signed up to the Ashley Madison Infidelity Portal?
How would you react if you found out that your spouse was a member of the Ashley Madison infidelity website?
What would you do?
Do you have any position from a legal point of view?
It is has been claimed that over one million Britons have been affected by the data leak affecting the Ashley Madison infidelity website and that the vast majority of them are male. The mere fact that someone has signed up to such a website does not actually prove adultery for the purposes of instigating divorce proceedings. However, if you became aware that your spouse had joined the site then this could be used as the basis for alleging unreasonable behaviour, which is one of the facts upon which a divorce can be based.
In view of the large numbers involved, it is expected that the hacking scandal will eventually result in a significant increase in divorces, citing unreasonable behaviour.
Even if couples who are affected do not start divorce proceedings immediately, finding out that your spouse has joined such a website is likely to cause considerable distrust in your partner. In a relationship, marital trust is most important and it is extremely difficult to forgive a partner who has cheated on you. It is often the case when a discovery is made of adultery, that this will cause the relationship to suffer in the long term, due to the lack of trust, until the relationship is finally severed. There is a significant risk that a marriage will eventually be doomed where one spouse has discovered that their partner had signed up to the infidelity portal, or any other such website. It may be that the spouse who has been cheated on will not be able to forgive their cheating husband or wife and will be planning an exit strategy to get out of the marriage and therefore divorce proceedings will eventually follow.
If you have been in any way affected by the hacking you should obtain specialist independent legal advice from a family lawyer. Please contact our family department for further information on 0113 320 5000 or by email tofamily@winstonsolicitors.co.uk.
