A marital mistake can threaten to come back to haunt you in divorce. This is especially true if you’re headed for a contentious marriage dissolution, where your spouse will look for every opportunity possible to attack you and your character while gaining an edge on key legal issues like property division, spousal support and child custody. Therefore, if you made a mistake involving infidelity, money mismanagement or an illegal act, then you need to be prepared to counter whatever way your spouse will try to use it against you. That may sound difficult, if not impossible, to do, but there are ways to mitigate the damage and protect your interests throughout the divorce process.
How can you minimize the impact of bad marital decisions during your divorce?
It can feel like hope is lost when you make a bad choice during marriage that you know is going to bite you during the divorce process. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to dampen the blow the evidence may have on the final outcome of your divorce. Here are a few ways how:
- Block the evidence from being used against you: Sometimes spouses rely on hearsay and other forms of inadmissible evidence to try to prove your marital bad acts. If that’s the case, then you might be able to block that evidence from being used against you so long as you can make a proper objection. But you have to know the rules of evidence in order to succeed in doing this.
- Attack witness credibility: Even if the evidence against you is admissible on its face, it might be untrustworthy. You can highlight that for the judge by attacking the credibility and thus the reliability of your spouse’s witnesses. Here, you might be able to show that the witness has been inconsistent in their statements over time, or that they’re motivated to testify against you. You should also be prepared to highlight any bias that may exist against you.
- Focus on the issue: Some evidence presented by your spouse may be nothing more than attacks on your character in hopes of swaying the judge to rule in their favor. That doesn’t make them relevant to the issue at hand. For example, your spouse might present social media posts showing you at a party enjoying alcohol to try to show that you drink and engage in an active night life that isn’t conducive to effective parenting. But do those photos really speak to what’s in your child’s best interests when it comes to custody and parenting time? Probably not.
- Highlight your spouse’s bad acts: If you have to play hardball to protect your interests, then you have to be prepared to attack your spouse for what they’ve done wrong. Again, this should probably be an option of last resort, as it can sometimes backfire, but if there are legitimate issues that are relevant to the legal issues at hand, then you have to be prepared to raise them in court.
Don’t let your spouse trample all over you in your divorce proceedings
If you let your spouse take control of your divorce, then you’re bound to face a bad outcome. You can’t let that happen. There’s simply too much at stake. So, if you’re ready to fight for a fair and just resolution that sets you on the path to a successful post-divorce life, then now is the time to start anticipating your spouse’s arguments, gathering evidence and crafting legal strategies that are persuasive to the court.