Hackers released another 20 gigabytes of files Thursday related to the Ashley Madison website data leak.
The site was a place for married people to solicit affairs.
Divorce lawyers expect an increase in business as a result of the hack. Las Vegas divorce attorney Stacy Rocheleau says, despite common perception, cheating does not matter when it comes to divorce terms.
“There’s no infidelity penalty. In other words, they’re not entitled to alimony, because their spouse cheated. They’re not entitled to a greater share of a property division just because their spouse cheated. As far as custody of the children, that’s not really a factor that the courts look at,” she said.
As far as a judge is concerned, cheating is irrelevant in a divorce. Nevada is a community property state, so anything that’s community is split equally.
Some people bring evidence of an affair to their lawyer, but Rocheleau says that won’t help their case.
“A lot of times, people will bring me pictures and emails and text messages,” she said. “They’ll steal their (spouse’s) phone, and some people go as far as to hire a P.I. to follow them to prove that they’re cheating, but, really, the court doesn’t care.”
In fact, those who do catch a cheating spouse rarely get a moment in court to punish their spouse by revealing the evidence.
Nevada is a popular state to file for divorce, because of its six-week jurisdictional period.
The state also does not have waiting times before or after filing, as many states do.
