The Ashley Madison data breach has raised many eyebrows and may be the cause of many uncomfortable dinner conversations lately. A recent post on the Pennsylvania Family Law Blog by Aaron Weems, a Partner in our Blue Bell, Pennsylvania office, explores what that data breach could mean to divorce lawyers and their clients. Just as Aaron points out for Pennsylvania cases, the existence an affair (if a spouse had an affair) in and of itself may not have an impact on the division of marital property in a Delaware divorce action. Delaware is what is often referred to as a "no fault" state because when Family Court is asked to divide marital property, it does so " without regard to marital misconduct." Does that mean that an affair can never be relevant? Certainly not. It may be relevant if, for example, in the course of the affair a spouse wasted marital asset or funds. So, while a data breach may help establish that an affair occurred, that is only the beginning of the analysis in the context of the equitable division of assets.
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