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 North Dakota, adultery is considered grounds for fault-based divorce, as outlined in North Dakota Century Code (NDCC) 14-05-03. When a spouse engages in adultery and spends marital assets on a paramour, the non-cheating spouse may have legal recourse to seek reimbursement. North Dakota is not a community property state; it is an equitable distribution state, which means that marital property is divided equitably, but not necessarily equally, in the event of a divorce. Under NDCC 14-05-24, the court may consider the circumstances of the parties, including misconduct, when distributing marital property. If a spouse has used marital funds to purchase gifts for a paramour, the court may order reimbursement to the marital estate. The non-cheating spouse would typically need to provide evidence of the expenditure and argue that the spending was not a legitimate use of marital assets. The court has the discretion to determine whether reimbursement is appropriate and, if so, how it should be accomplished, such as by returning the gift if it retains value or replacing the funds with the cheating spouse's separate property.