Paternity....child support...custody and visitation....divorce...annulment...equitable distribution....these are terms for legal considerations any attorney must address when representing a client experiencing a divorce. However, tort law is expanding into the realm of domestic relations and offers attorneys and clients additional possibilities for legal redress in disputes between soon to be former marital partners. Increasingly, spouses may discover as they review their cases with their attorney that they may have available to them a variety of causes of action.
In those situations where financial malfeasence has occurred, a spouse may claim that the other spouse has engaged in fraud or breach of fiduciary duty. Where the relationship between spouses was abusive in nature, the aggreived spouse may sue for assault and battery, the intentional infliction of emotional distress, or for the intentional or negligent transmission of STDs. After the end of the marriage, one party may sue the other for custodial interference. Not only may spouses seek redress against one another, but they may also seek redress against the paramours of those individuals in cases involving adultery or against other third parties who may play a role in the end of a marriage or the end of an engagement. These are the "heart balm" torts-alienation of affections, criminal conversation, breach of marriage promise, and seduction.
Not only may a spouse's rights be addressed via reliance on tort law, but so may the rights of children. A child may have a cause of action for assault and battery for any abuse or neglect the child may have suffered.
To conclude, a family law attorney's responsibility to compenently represent his client doesn't stop at the boundaries of traditional family law. Now, a truly competent family attorney will assess his client's options in the area of tort law as well.