emotional affair

[bigzinc]

My spouse has been having an emotional affair with an old flame for about 9 months now. Mutual everlasting love is expressed as well as rehashing of sexual past.. Is this grounds for a divorce

[cscharff]

Section 8 of the Divorce Act provides:

8. (1) A court of competent jurisdiction may, on application by either or both spouses, grant a divorce to the spouse or spouses on the ground that there has been a breakdown of their marriage.

Breakdown of marriage
(2) Breakdown of a marriage is established only if

(a) the spouses have lived separate and apart for at least one year immediately preceding the determination of the divorce proceeding and were living separate and apart at the commencement of the proceeding; or

(b) the spouse against whom the divorce proceeding is brought has, since celebration of the marriage,

(i) committed adultery, or

(ii) treated the other spouse with physical or mental cruelty of such a kind as to render intolerable the continued cohabitation of the spouses.


Adultery, if contested, must be proven. While the Divorce Act does not define adultery, the case law suggests that there must have been sexual intercourse.