Does adultery mean that divorce is inevitable?

For many people, faithfulness is a key component of the marital agreement. During your wedding, you and your spouse promise in front of your family and friends to cherish one another and remain faithful no matter what life brings your way.

Sadly, not everyone can follow through on their promises of marital fidelity. Finding out that your spouse has cheated on you is a significant blow. It can destroy your trust in your spouse and make you question everything about your relationship.

Is it possible for you and your spouse to reconcile after an affair or is divorce inevitable once adultery has destroyed the foundation of trust upon which you built your marriage?

Rebuilding is possible with time and mutual effort

In order for a couple to move past adultery, both spouses will have to commit themselves to working through the issues that led to the adultery and the issues that arose because of it. From working through one spouse’s anger to addressing household imbalances, there can be a lot of work involved in solidifying and improving a marriage after an affair.

Couples counseling, individual therapy and even support groups might help the spouses work through their feelings and build toward a healthier future. It can take months or even years for things to go back to normal after an affair. In some cases, normal will be different even after the couple reconnects and recommits.

Postnuptial agreements can help a couple working through adultery

Many people dealing with unfaithfulness choose to simply get divorced and move on with their life, but you don’t have to give up on your relationship just because you’ve reached a difficult point in it. Postnuptial agreements are a valuable tool for those dealing with the fallout of infidelity.

A postnuptial agreement can help you plan for a divorce if you aren’t able to reconcile, by setting terms for a quicker and more cost-effective end to your marriage. It can also help you protect yourself from future unfaithfulness by creating financial penalties for the divorce if your spouse cheats again.

A postnuptial agreement combined with therapy can be a powerful tool to help a struggling family get back on track after one spouse cheats.