North Carolina law defines illicit sexual behavior as “acts of sexual or deviate sexual intercourse, deviate sexual acts, or sexual acts as defined in North Carolina criminal law, voluntarily engaged in by a spouse with someone other than the other spouse.”
Sexual acts which meet the definition of illicit sexual behavior include:
In order to prove that your spouse committed an act of illicit sexual behavior or adultery, you will need to obtain admissible evidence of such conduct. In most cases, this conduct is proved by circumstantial evidence. Circumstantial evidence of illicit sexual behavior is typically obtained by a private investigator who conducts a surveillance of the spouse who is acting suspiciously. Adultery is presumed if you can prove that both persons had the “inclination” and “opportunity” to commit the act.
Examples of “inclination” include the following:
In order to prove opportunity you must show your spouse and a third party spent time alone together in a location where there was an opportunity for sexual relations, such as a hotel or empty beach house.
In our Podcast, Jaime Davis discusses the potential impact adultery can have on a family law case, as well as potential claims a spouse may have against the third party for alienation of affection and criminal conversation.
