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 Maryland, claims for alienation of affection are not recognized by the courts. Maryland follows the trend of the majority of states in the United States that have abolished this cause of action. This means that a spouse in Maryland cannot legally sue a third party for alienation of affection, even if that third party had an affair with their spouse and, as a result, the love and affection in the marriage were destroyed. However, when it comes to the division of the marital estate upon divorce, Maryland is an equitable distribution state. This means that the court will divide marital property based on what it considers fair, which may not necessarily be equal. While adultery may not be a basis for an alienation of affection claim, it can be considered by the court as a factor when determining the equitable distribution of assets, along with other factors related to the circumstances of the marriage and its dissolution.