Abandonment is a term often-used by individuals involved in disputes with their spouses, and it is a term that has varying legal consequences, particularly in the context of divorce, alimony, equitable distribution, inheritance and intestate estate administration. Spouses frequently remain in an unhappy home due to fear that they will have been deemed to have abandoned their husband or wife, and the legal consequences that may ensue during divorce.
North Carolina is a “no-fault divorce” jurisdiction. This means that North Carolina courts will enter a divorce decree upon a showing that a married couple has been separated for longer than a year, with or without the fault of a particular spouse being a consideration in the divorce proceeding. Accordingly, in North Carolina and for the purposes of the divorce proceeding alone, it is irrelevant whether husband or wife wanted the separation and what the reasoning for the separation might have been. While a non-event in the divorce decree context, the cause of the separation, including abandonment by a spouse, can and frequently will influence awards and distributions between former spouses in the alimony and property distribution (i.e., equitable distribution) contexts.
In further contrast to the divorce context, inheritance rights are affected by the act of spousal abandonment. North Carolina General Statute 31A-3(a)(3) provides that a spouse that willfully and without cause refuses to live with his/her spouse and is not living with his/her spouse at the time of the spouse’s death, loses all inheritance rights to property held by individuals that do not have wills (intestate succession).
The “take-away” here is that North Carolina spouses should be aware that abandonment can cause a loss of rights to inherit property and may be considered an act of marital misconduct in an alimony award, but will not be an “at fault” finding in a divorce.
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