Cheating Contract Unenforceable

The Supreme Court of Iowa has held that if your spouse cheats and you and he/she enter into a contract that states that if the cheating continues certain stipulations will occur in the event of a divorce, (i.e. a sum certain of alimony will be paid, certain bills will be paid, etc.) said contract is unenforceable.

In the case of In re: the Marriage of Cooper, Mr. Cooper was engaging in an extramarital affair. When Mrs. Cooper found out, in an effort to save the marriage, the parties put together a contract, the terms of which dictated what their agreement would be if the cheating did not cease and divorce resulted from the infidelity. The cheating continued and when Mrs. Cooper found out, she filed for divorce and attempted to enforce the contract. The District Court enforced the contract but on appeal the Court of Appeals denied the enforcement of the contract. Upon further review, the Iowa Supreme Court agreed that the contract was not enforceable as it was against public policy for the Court to get involved in such matters and it interposed the concept of “fault” into the law. Iowa is a no fault state when seeking a divorce and determining alimony/property issues. The moral of the story--Don’t contract with your cheating spouse as to what will happen if a divorce occurs. The contract is not worth the tear stained paper it is written on.