"No-fault" divorce laws that don't consider "who violated the bonds of matrimony" (
i.e., who committed adultery during the marriage and who did not) except when it comes to the division of the marital estate are responsible for much of this sort of thing. These laws are an outrage.
There are statutes in the family law codes of many states that prohibit adultery. But they're never enforced. A long time ago, while in the employ of a general civil practice, I held my nose and wrote an appellate brief in which my boss wanted me to argue, based on precedent, that "just because" a wife had had an affair with her husband's brother was not a reason that she shouldn't be awarded the marital home in the property judgment. "Adultery
per se is never prosecuted in this state," I had to argue. The appellate panel awarded the house to the wife. Disgusting outcome.
Yes, I think adultery should be prosecuted in the civil courts.
