Taoyuan, Taiwan (November 29, 2025)— A marital scandal involving two neighboring families has resulted in a court ordering a woman to pay NT$300,000 in damages for engaging in an affair with a married man, causing severe emotional harm to his wife of more than three decades.
According to court findings, the man, referred to as Ade (pseudonym), married his wife in 1989. However, between 2018 and 2019, he entered into an extramarital relationship with a longtime neighbor, Xiaotao (pseudonym). Their affair reportedly involved multiple secret meetings and repeated sexual encounters.
The situation resurfaced in 2024 when Xiaotao’s husband, still distressed years after the affair, confronted Ade at his home seeking the truth. Upon hearing the confirmation he feared, he lost control and shattered a dining table and cabinet glass using a police baton. Friends close to him testified that he had suffered a mental collapse and was no longer emotionally stable enough to pursue legal action on his own. As a result, he entrusted Ade to address compensation matters on his behalf.
Ade’s wife later filed a civil suit against Xiaotao, demanding NT$1 million in emotional distress damages for the betrayal and the impact it had on her marriage.
During the trial, Ade admitted his involvement, revealing that the pair would arrange meetings by phone and drive separately to a parking lot, where Xiaotao would enter his car. He further testified that they engaged in sexual activity almost every time they met. Xiaotao, however, insisted that she had no affair with Ade and denied having sexual relations, arguing that the compensation sought was unreasonable.
After reviewing the testimonies and emotional impact on both families, the Taoyuan District Court concluded that Xiaotao knowingly engaged in an improper relationship with a married man. The judge ruled that her actions caused significant emotional harm to Ade’s wife and ordered her to pay NT$300,000 in compensation.
The ruling may still be appealed.