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 Louisiana, the law recognizes that a spouse may have a claim for reimbursement if the other spouse has used marital or community property to give gifts to a paramour during an adulterous affair. Louisiana is a community property state, meaning that generally, all assets and debts acquired during the marriage are considered to be owned jointly by both spouses. If one spouse uses community funds to purchase gifts for a paramour, the non-cheating spouse may seek reimbursement for the misused assets. The court can order the cheating spouse to return the gift to the marital estate if it retains value, such as jewelry, or to reimburse the community with their separate property funds. This is based on the principle that community property should not be used for purposes that do not benefit the marriage or both spouses. The non-cheating spouse would typically need to provide evidence of the adultery and the misuse of marital funds to succeed in such a claim.