CONNIVANCE
The furtive consent of one person to cooperate with another in the commission of an unlawful act or crime—such as an employer’s agreement not to withhold taxes from the salary of an employee who wants to evade federal INCOME TAX. The false
consent that a plaintiff gave to a defendant’s past
conduct during their marriage which the plaintiff
presently alleges as a ground for DIVORCE.
Connivance has been used as a defense primarily
in an action for divorce based upon
ADULTERY. In situations where connivance is
used, the facts must establish that the plaintiff
either consented or knowingly acquiesced to the
adulterous conduct of the spouse or created the
opportunity for adultery by persuading someone
to seduce the spouse. It is considered a logical
extension of the equitable MAXIM of clean
hands in that it would be unfair to permit a
plaintiff to obtain judicial relief for a situation
which he or she created. Practically speaking,
however, connivance is rarely asserted as a
defense. The modern trend in divorce laws is
that there is little benefit to continuing a marital
relationship between partners so indifferent to each other that they consent to a serious violation
of their marital vows.
The defense of connivance cannot be
asserted in an action based upon a state’s nofault
divorce laws.
