May you live with your girlfriend while separated in the state of NC?

Answer 1

Any NC attorney would advise against it. There are potentially too many legal problems that can result. As long as you're still legally married, it's technically adultery. Unless the laws have changed very recently (and at one point, they were trying to change it) NC still has laws against adultery, so it's a crime (although admittedly, no one has been charged with it in many, many years). NC also allows adultery as grounds for divorce. NC divorce courts do not look fondly on those who commit adultery. The law states that if the supporting spouse commits adultery, alimony must be awarded to the dependant spouse, and if the dependant spouse commits adultery they are barred from receiving alimony (NC is the only state I know of where that's the case). NC also still allows for criminal conversation and alienation of affection lawsuits, so your spouse can sue your lover. Don't do it! I personally know a man in NC who was divorced on the grounds of adultery and his wife pretty much got everything they had, and she also gets a a nice, big alimony payment for the rest of her life (unless she remarries and she won't because then the alimony stops).