Alienation of Affection/ Criminal Conversation: The Partnership Angle

This past week the North Carolina Court of Appeals heard arguments regarding the constitutionality of North Carolina’s Alienation of Affection and Criminal Conversation causes of action.

An Alienation of Affection action is one in which a spouse files a lawsuit against their spouses’ paramour for destroying their marriage. Criminal Conversation is filed against a paramour for having sexual relations with the spouse. The actions are commonly referred to as a heart-balm actions and have been done away with in the majority of other states.

The Court of Appeals held oral arguments in the matter at Wake Forrest Law School and many law students were in attendance for the arguments. Generally, a few months will pass before the Court of Appeals completes their opinion and releases it.

On the one hand, it is argued that the alienation of affection law violates a fundamental right to privacy and free speech; however, the counter-argument is that one person’s rights do not extend to the right to injure another and that adultery causes injury to the other spouse in the marriage and to the institution of marriage itself – an institution which the government has a bona fide interest in protecting.

In 2003, the United States Supreme Court held a Texas statute banning consensual sex between two adults of the same gender pursuant to the argument that there was a fundamental right to privacy in such action between two consenting adults. However, the question here is what happens to that fundamental right when a third party is involved.

Marriage is the penultimate partnership in our society. Like business partnership, marriages are created and destroy regularly, sometimes by partners and sometimes by others outside the partnership. In business, a company can sue a third party for interfering with a contractual relationship, Alienation of Affection and Criminal Conversation afford the same ability to partners in the most important business of all, marriage.

If you believe you might have a claim against a paramour for alienation of affection or criminal conversation, please contact us.