A paramour is a person who is a love or romantic interest of a married person who is engaging in adultery with the paramour. Spouses engaged in adulterous affairs with paramours sometimes give gifts to their paramours, and often spend marital or community property on such gifts. The non-cheating spouse may pursue a reimbursement claim and ask the court to order the spouse who spent marital assets on a paramour to reimburse the marital or community estate—by returning the gift if it retains its value (jewelry) or replacing the funds with the cheating spouse’s separate property funds.
In Washington State, which is a community property state, assets acquired during a marriage are generally considered the property of both spouses. If one spouse uses marital or community property to buy gifts for a paramour, the non-cheating spouse may have a claim for reimbursement. Washington courts have the authority to order the cheating spouse to reimburse the marital estate for the value of the gifts given to a paramour. This reimbursement can be in the form of returning the gift if it retains its value, such as jewelry, or by compensating the marital estate with separate funds belonging to the cheating spouse. The claim for reimbursement is typically addressed during the divorce proceedings, where the court will consider the misuse of marital assets when dividing the marital estate.