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 New York, claims for alienation of affection and criminal conversation are not recognized. New York abolished these causes of action, which are often referred to as 'heart-balm' claims, through legislative action. As a result, a spouse in New York cannot sue another person for allegedly causing the loss of love and affection in their marriage due to an affair or adultery. Regarding the division of marital property, New York is an equitable distribution state, which means that marital assets are divided in a manner that is fair, but not necessarily equal. While fault, such as adultery, may be considered in the division of assets, it is just one of many factors that the court will consider, and it does not automatically entitle the non-adulterous spouse to an unequal division of the marital estate.