What to Do If You’ve Been Emotionally Abused During Your Divorce

Confronting Emotional Abuse during Divorce

January 31, 2020

If you are in the process of a divorce, your spouse may be emotionally volatile, especially if they think you are to blame for the divorce or want to remain together. In many cases, one spouse will make the divorce process challenging for the other by refusing to cooperate or compromise on such issues as child custody, child support or the division of property. However, in other more severe cases, your spouse may cause you severe emotional abuse during the divorce that causes you emotional distress and mental anguish.

No one has the right to emotionally abuse any other person in any circumstance. If you have been emotionally abused during your divorce, you have legal rights including filing a personal injury lawsuit for the intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Understanding Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is devastating and can cause serious physical and mental health concerns for the victim. Some examples of a spouse emotionally abusing another spouse during a divorce could include:

  • Yelling or screaming either in private or in public
  • Making threats of any kind
  • Spreading lies to family or friends, or on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or another social media platform
  • Attempting to isolate the spouse
  • Showing up at the spouse’s workplace and behaving in an intimidating manner
  • Sharing personal, private, or intimate photographs with family, friends, or on social media
  • Attempting to continue to control finances
  • Criticizing or shaming the spouse in any way

Emotional abuse like physical abuse, is considered domestic violence. Any type of coercion, threat or mental abuse is intimate partner violence and is against the law.

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Although you may still be married to your spouse, they may not intentionally harm you either physically or emotionally. If you suffered emotional distress due to the intentional actions of your spouse, you may be able to file a civil case called intentional infliction of emotional distress. Filing an intentional inflection of emotional distress lawsuit will allow you to receive compensation for your mental anguish and require your spouse to be legally accountable for their emotional abuse.

If your spouse behaved outrageously in a way that rose to the level of emotional abuse, and this was a significant cause of your emotional distress, and your spouse had full intention to cause you mental anguish and emotional distress, you may have grounds to take further legal action beyond the divorce proceedings. Ultimately, if your spouse intended to cause you harm and they succeeded, you will have a strong case for intentional infliction of emotional distress. You will have to prove that your emotional suffering is more than feeling upset and disappointed. You will need to show that your emotional and mental anguish rises to an extreme level and have evidence such as doctor or therapist bills to provide evidence of this suffering.

Contact an Experienced Family Law Attorney

If you are suffering from emotional abuse from your spouse during your divorce, you should contact an experienced family law attorney at the Law Offices of Hollie A. Lemkin at (949) 734-7300 or online today to help you ensure that your legal rights are protected.

Call today to speak with Hollie A. Lemkin to discuss your questions & issues!

949-734-7300

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