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 Oklahoma, the claims for alienation of affection and criminal conversation are not recognized by the courts. Oklahoma does not allow for legal action to be taken against a third party (the 'paramour' or lover) for the breakdown of a marriage due to adultery. While some states do recognize these claims, Oklahoma is not one of them, and thus, these 'heart-balm' torts are not applicable within the state's legal framework. Regarding the division of marital property, Oklahoma courts may consider fault when dividing assets in a divorce, but this is separate from any claim of alienation of affection or criminal conversation.