The dissipation of marital assets is a legal ground for divorce in many states and territories. It means one spouse is using the couple’s common funds irresponsibly or without the knowledge or consent of the other party. This is one of the most devastating cases against a person’s financial stability in the legal world.

According to Affordable Divorce Center, there have been many similar instances that have gone on to be tried in court. An excellent example is if the wife discovers her husband is having an affair, and taking the other woman on pricey vacations using their shared funds. Not only is the husband having a relationship behind her back, he’s also using the money that they both earned to facilitate it. This double whammy divorce case’s almost guaranteed to win in any court in the land, that is with the necessary evidence.

In such cases, the court can actually order the offending spouse to pay the money back in addition to the lawyer’s fees, and if they have a child together, child support. Depending on how much the offending spouse spent on their affairs, and how long it went that will amount to an insurmountable amount of money.

There are a few hurdles the offended party needs to go through to file a claim of dissipation of marital assets against the offending spouse though. Before the aggrieved party can literally make their spouse pay for what they’ve done, it needs to be proven that the expenditures occurred at a time during the breakdown of the marriage.

This is the only tricky part in the proceedings, as a failing marriage is not necessary for someone to have an affair. Likewise, no lawyer would make the mistake of concluding that the existence of an affair is automatically indicative of a failing marriage.