Alienation of affection and criminal conversation are potential legal claims or causes of action against a person who committed adultery with your spouse—the paramour or lover with whom your spouse had an affair. These claims are based on the idea that the person with whom your spouse cheated destroyed or alienated the love and affection in your marriage.

Alienation of affection claims are no longer recognized by courts in most states—but Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah do recognize such claims. And in some states that do or do not not recognize such claims, the cheated-on spouse may seek an unequal division of the marital estate based on fault in the breakup of the marriage.

The details of alienation of affection laws (sometimes called heart-balm laws) vary from state to state among the states that do recognize such claims.

In the state of Oregon, claims for alienation of affection are not recognized by the courts. Oregon, like the majority of states, has abolished this cause of action, which historically allowed a spouse to sue a third party for willfully interfering with the marital relationship, typically through an affair or adultery. As such, an individual in Oregon cannot legally pursue a case against someone their spouse had an affair with on the grounds of alienation of affection or criminal conversation. Regarding the division of marital property, Oregon is an equitable distribution state, which means that marital assets are divided in a manner that is deemed fair and equitable, but not necessarily equal. Fault in the breakup of the marriage, such as adultery, is generally not considered in the division of property unless it has had an economic impact on the marital estate.