Will it affect my divorce if I date other people?

Absolutely. While it’s obvious that death is a grief-producing event, what may not be so obvious (although I think more people are aware of it now) is that divorce produces tremendous feelings of grief on both sides.

It shouldn’t affect your divorce if you date other people. As a practicality, we have irreconcilable differences as a reason for dissolution in California divorce law, and of course the other reason is incurable insanity. However, as a practical matter, it can tend to affect your divorce if the other person feels spurned or jealous, or gets emotionally upset to the point that they want to punish you. So what you might want to do is keep a relationship, if you have one, very close to the vest until such time as you work out either a settlement or finish your divorce case in its entirety.

Julia M. Garwood is a family-law attorney and divorce mediator based in San Diego, CA.