How Can an Abandonment Claim Impact a Divorce?

In the context of divorce, abandonment is considered when one spouse has left the other spouse for one year or longer without a reasonable cause. Also during this time, the spouse who left must have refused to support the other spouse financially, take care of their minor children, and overall refuse to reconcile. A divorce petitioner may claim abandonment as a valid fault-based ground, possibly in an effort to get a more favorable divorce outcome. Well, with all that being said, please read on to discover how an abandonment claim can impact a Tennesee family court’s decisions for divorce-related terms and how one of the seasoned Clarksville divorce lawyers at Fendley and Birch can fight to ensure no false claims of such are made against you.

How can an abandonment claim impact a divorce case’s outcome?

Firstly, for property division, the Tennessee family court follows equitable distribution and splits up marital property fairly. Importantly, fairly does not necessarily mean equally. So if one spouse is found at fault for abandonment, the court may find it fair to give the other spouse a larger portion of marital property. This is because they may have worked to physically upkeep and financially pay for this marital property their spouse so carelessly deserted.

In a similar vein, the court may lean toward giving the abandoned spouse a greater child support order and an alimony order with a longer duration. This may be to make up for the time of financial hardship that the abandoned spouse experienced after their spouse’s desertion, which may have directly impacted their ability to pay for their child’s basic needs.

Lastly, the court may favor the abandoned spouse and grant them primary physical and legal custody over their child. At the very most, they may give the other spouse supervised visitation. This is because their abandonment of their child may shed light on their parental unfitness. Therefore, the court may worry about your child’s health, safety, and overall well-being if they should be under the other spouse’s unsupervised care.

What can I do to defend against an abandonment claim?

You may be completely caught off guard if your spouse files a divorce petition against you and cites abandonment as fault-based grounds. With this, they may provide the Tennesee family court with evidence that you lived separately for one year or longer and you did not have marital relations during that time. They may even go as far as to claim criminal abandonment and argue that you were unreachable and refused to support your family.

Importantly, you must bring a solid defense to the court that explains why it may seem you deserted your spouse and family. For one, you may claim constructive abandonment, in which your spouse essentially drove you out of your marital home by making the cohabitation intolerable. Specifically, there may have been domestic violence involved with this, which may add another layer of complexity to your divorce case.

Secondly, you may argue that lockout abandonment took place. With this, your spouse may have locked you out of your marital home without your consent, whether by changing the locks or other means. Subsequently, this may have severely hindered your access to your children.

If you have any outstanding questions yet to be answered, please ask one of the competent Clarksville family lawyers. Anyone at Fendley and Birch can offer the support you need.