Personal Injury Defense

Alienation of Affection | Criminal Conversation

NC Lawyers serving Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham

In the state of North Carolina, people who break up marriages and engage in sexual intercourse with those who are already married risk being sued civilly.  If their spouse has cheated you or someone you know on, he or she may be entitled to compensation. North Carolina is one of the minority states that allows victims of paramours to recover money from the paramour, not the cheating husband or wife. There are two main causes of action involving this: Alienation of Affection and Criminal Conversation. Each year, over 200 cases are still filed under these causes of action. Since the North Carolina Supreme Court has not explicitly ruled these actions unconstitutional, many courts are still willing to allow these causes of action to proceed and have allowed juries to award damages to the victims.

Alienation of Affection in North Carolina
Alienation of affection claims generally refers to conduct that occurred before the separation. It is very important to note the date of separation in divorce cases. To have a valid cause of action of alienation of affection, the plaintiff must prove that the marriage involved love between husband and wife, that the spousal love was injured and destroyed, and that the defendant’s conduct contributed to or caused the loss of affection. Please note that extra-marital sex is not required. Flirting, going on dates, kissing, and other intimate activities can be enough. The defendant also does not have to specifically set out to destroy the marriage. He or she only has to intentionally engage in acts that can foreseeably injure the marriage. Consent on part of the victim’s spouse is not a defense to alienation of affection. Unhappiness in the marriage is also no defense. It does not matter how unhappy of a marriage or how unreasonable the victim’s behavior. As long as the victim and the spouse are still married at the time, the victim may have an action for alienation of affection if the elements are met. Please note that the defendant does not have to be a paramour either. In-laws or friends who consistently advise the victim’s spouse to end the marriage or to leave the victim can also be held liable for damages under alienation of affection. The statute of limitations for an alienation of affection claim is 3 years. The clock starts ticking when the tortious act occurred, not when the victim finds out about the conduct.

For example, Tommy and Gertrude have been married for 15 years. In the last 5 years, the marriage has grown cold and the two do not talk or spend much time together anymore. One night, Tommy is out with his friends and meets another woman. Unfortunately for the two, Gertrude finds out about the relationship. She files suit against the other woman for alienation of affection and is likely to succeed. First of all, even though her marital relationship had grown cold, Tommy did admit to Kylie that he still loved his wife. Next, the other woman knew that Tommy was married, yet she told him to get out of a relationship that he was not happy in. In addition, she went out on dates with him, breaking up the marital love between Tommy and Gertrude. This lost of love would not have occurred but for the other woman's actions, and it was reasonably foreseeable that this would occur.

Criminal Conversation in North Carolina
Another civil action that victims of extra-marital affairs may have against the paramours is criminal conversation. For a criminal conversation suit to succeed, the victim must prove that there was a valid marriage between him/her and the cheating spouse and that the cheating spouse had sexual intercourse with the paramour. It is no defense that there was an unhappy marriage or that the victim cheated on the cheating spouse him/herself. It is not even a defense that the cheating spouse seduced the paramour. In fact, criminal conversation can even be used to prove alienation of affection. It can be used to corroborate the alienation of affection before the marriage separation. The only defense for criminal conversation would be that the victim consented to the sexual intercourse between the cheating spouse and the paramour, which in that case, would not really be cheating. In addition, the defendant would have to prove that no sexual intercourse occurred before that incident.

Free personal injury legal consultations are available.
The attorneys and lawyers at Everett Law Firm, P.A. understand the issues surrounding alienation of affection in North Carolina as well as criminal conversation.  Please feel free to email us or call our Chapel Hill law office, conveniently located in Chapel Hill, to discuss your alienation of affection case. Our toll free phone number is (800) 942-8048.