A French court has ruled that visiting dating websites is grounds for divorce, as it amounts to a violation of the obligations of marriage. The ruling came in the case of a couple from Aix-en-Provence who had been married for 18 years until their separation in 2008, after the husband discovered his wife had been visiting the Netlog dating website.
La Figaro reports that a couple called Bruno and Nathalie, are both 43 years old and have three children. Nathalie claimed she only visited the website because she had become depressed but the court ruled she had still broken the terms of her marriage.
She exchanged messages with multiple men and sent intimidate photos of herself. She was not guilty of adultery for what she did but the terms of marriage in France had been redefined in 2006
A Parisian family law specialist, Poivey-Hélène Leclercq, said the court, “considered the fact seek an extramarital relationship as an outrageous behaviour towards the husband.”
There was no evidence of physical infidelity but under Article 212 of the Civil Code, spouses owe each other respect, fidelity, succour and assistance. “It is this notion of respect, added in 2006 to the Civil Code, that the wife departed from,” the lawyer said.
The ruling will have some ramifications in France as it was previously assumed that a party would have to carry out infidelity to have breached the terms of their marriage.
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