Are Emotional Affairs Grounds For Divorce?
By: Gerri L Elder
Is it considered cheating if you never have actual physical contact with someone you desire? Perhaps not in the past; however, lines have been blurred by the advance of technology and the answer is now yes. Your spouse can and most likely will divorce you if evidence of an emotional affair is uncovered.
Don’t go there
An emotional affair can be just as damaging to a marriage as a physical affair. There has always been such a thing as an emotional affair, but the Internet has made them more readily available in recent years. Chat rooms, dating sites, message boards and other places where people gather and get to know each other breed emotional infidelity.
What is an emotional affair?
While a physical affair can be readily defined by the first touch, it’s not that simple to isolate the moment an emotional affair begins.
Having romantic or sexual feelings and thoughts about someone other than your spouse can be a red flag in a relationship. Acting on these feelings, through private correspondence, secret cell phone calls or arranging to meet an Internet friend in person can constitute an emotional affair.
Many people who engage in emotional affairs don’t consider themselves to be cheating because of the lack of physical contact; however, when an intimate relationship is exposed, whether physical or not, it may make little difference in the eyes of a divorce lawyer. The effect on the marriage can be devastating and lead to your spouse filing divorce.
April 16th, 2010 at 8:08 am
I have a question. My sister in law has been having an emotional affair with someone on facebook. Her and my brother have already filed for divorce because she simply tells him she is unhappy. She was confiding in me but I told her that it was not a good idea and that i don’t support her decision. She is now making stuff up about me to turn everyone against me. My question is this. Can providing evidence that this is happening help my brothers divorce case? I dont want him to get angry because they still are currently living together and have a child together. What should i do? Please write back. Thank you