Shelby Family & Divorce Lawyers

North Carolina is one of 17 states in the U.S. with laws requiring that a married couple be separated for a full year before they are able to legally file for divorce. According to General Statute 50-6, residents in North Carolina may dissolve their marriage after they have lived apart for a year with the provision that both parties have resided in the state for over six months.

This statewide law has prevented many victims of domestic abuse and violence from obtaining the legal separation from their spouse that they require to feel safe. Many individuals in these circumstances often seek out additional legal protections during the year of living apart from their spouse. The best practice for individuals in North Carolina who find themselves in this position is to start the process of separated living as soon as possible.

Working with a qualified divorce and separation lawyer in North Carolina can provide you with access to important resources that might relate to your case, as well as legal counsel on how to ensure you are not missing any guidelines or regulations that may cause your divorce or separation to last longer than necessary.

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Instances of domestic violence and domestic abuse are common in North Carolina among both men and women. Reports indicate that an average of 43.9% of women and 19.3% of men in North Carolina have experienced intimate partner abuse in the form of physical violence, sexual violence, emotional abuse, or stalking.

Although most forms of domestic violence in North Carolina appear as physical acts of harm, there are many different ways that a spouse can damage or hurt their partner. These alternative forms of domestic abuse, which provide a valid basis for seeking to file for a divorce or legal separation, include but are not limited to the following.

• Emotional abuse: An abusive partner seeks control from their spouse through repeatedly harmful actions. These actions can cause long-lasting trauma and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) for many victims. Examples of emotional abuse include intimidation, humiliation, shaming, stalking, isolation, jealousy, blame, insults, and gaslighting.
• Technological abuse: A partner, or someone who is seeking attention from a particular individual, may perform technological abuse that aims to control, harass, stalk, or monitor their actions. Examples of technological abuse include hacking into someone’s personal account, forcing partners to provide social media passwords, monitoring and controlling social media interactions and posts, using tracking devices or software to monitor a person’s whereabouts.
• Financial abuse: Financial abuse frequently gets overlooked in court cases and divorce proceedings because many plaintiffs are not aware that they are experiencing abuse at all. Financial abuse is classified by any actions that a partner takes which aim to control another person by controlling their financial affairs. These actions can include arguing or harassing their partner purposefully while they are at work, collecting and controlling all financial assets, hurting their partner so they cannot go to work, and damaging their spouse’s credit rating.
• Abuse through immigration status: Any individual who is not yet a registered citizen of the United States may be manipulated by their spouse or intimate partner and have their legal status in the country used as leverage against them. Certain types of immigration abuse cases include the destruction of immigration documents, preventing a partner from learning a native language, threats of harm to their family in their home country, and even threats of deportation.

Cases of abuse among intimate partners and married spouses are frequently reported by many women across North Carolina, but what can you do, as a defendant, when you have been wrongfully charged with domestic abuse or violence?

The courts in North Carolina can be intimidating, especially in cases of sexual assault or abuse which are taken very seriously across the state. Your best chance of clearing your name is to contact an experienced family lawyer in Shelby, North Carolina who can create a strong defense for your side of the case and ensure that your rights are protected.

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The circumstances for obtaining an annulment in North Carolina are different than the guidelines for divorce. An annulment is a legal procedure that declares a marriage null and void. Cases involving annulment are retroactive, which means that they invalidate a legal marriage from the beginning of the partnership as if it had never occurred.

There are a variety of reasons that a couple may seek an annulment for their marriage in North Carolina. One of the common reasons for annulment is that one of the spouses was already married at the time of the legal union. Cases of fraud are also frequently cited as reasons for an annulment, which occurs when one party in a relationship has lied to the other about an aspect of their partnership to convince the other person to marry them. Some instances of annulment are related to marriages that occurred under duress, meaning that one of the parties was threatened in some way to persuade them into a legal marriage.

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