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 Alaska, the claims of alienation of affection and criminal conversation are not recognized by the courts. These types of lawsuits, which historically allowed a spouse to sue a third party for causing the loss of love and affection in a marriage, have been abolished in many states, including Alaska. As such, an individual in Alaska cannot legally pursue a case against a person their spouse had an affair with on the grounds of alienation of affection or criminal conversation. Regarding the division of marital property, Alaska is an equitable distribution state, which means that marital assets are divided in a manner that is equitable, but not necessarily equal. Fault in the breakup of the marriage, such as adultery, may be considered by the court when determining the division of assets, but this does not extend to the ability to sue a third party for the affair itself.