Can I File a Lawsuit Against my Spouse’s Paramour in North Carolina?

North Carolina has a distinctive legal system for adultery. If your spouse cheats on you during the marriage, you may be able to file a lawsuit against the other man or woman who was involved in the affair. The legal claims are called alienation of affection and criminal conversation.

To prove alienation of affection, it must be shown that:

• The spouses were married and shared love and affection with each other
• That love and affection were alienated
• The defendant’s malicious acts caused the loss of love and affection

Malice is presumed to exist as long as the plaintiff can show that the defendant had sexual intercourse with the plaintiff’s husband or wife.

Criminal conversation is established by showing that the spouses were married and that the defendant had sexual intercourse with the plaintiff’s spouse during the marriage.

Beavers v. McMican

While spouses may have the ability to file a lawsuit against an alleged paramour of their husbands or wives, it can be challenging to establish the connection to prove adultery. In the case of Beavers v. McMican, Plaintiff filed a complaint against his ex-wife’s alleged lover, Defendant. However, Defendant insisted that Plaintiff did not have the evidence to support these claims.

Background of the Case

Plaintiff and his ex-wife had been married for approximately 11 years when he discovered she had texted nude photos to someone she later claimed was a co-worker named Dustin. The texts also referenced sexual intercourse between the ex-wife and the alleged co-worker. Plaintiff confronted his ex-wife, and she admitted to performing sexual acts but not having sexual intercourse with this person. Plaintiff left the marital home and stayed with his parents.

After several weeks, Plaintiff again confronted his ex-wife about the affair, at which point she admitted that she did have sexual intercourse with someone at her work. The actual identity of this person was never discovered, but Plaintiff suspected that the name his ex-wife had given previously was a lie.

In December 2016, they permanently separated, and less than four months later, Plaintiff’s ex-wife began openly dating Defendant, who was one of her co-workers. Despite evidence that Defendant and Plaintiff’s ex-wife were close prior to the separation, there was nothing to support they were involved romantically before April 2017.

Alienation of Affection and Criminal Conversation

Plaintiff sued Defendant for alienation of affection and criminal conversation in December 2018, and Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment based on insufficient evidence. Defendant’s motion was granted, and Plaintiff appealed.

The Court of Appeals referenced previous case law when determining whether summary judgment was appropriate in this case, stating that this should only be granted when the moving party proves an essential element of the other party’s claim is nonexistent or that the other party could not produce evidence to support an essential part of their claim.

In Beavers v. McMican, Plaintiff did not have evidence to support his claim that Defendant was the person having an affair with his ex-wife during their marriage. However, there was proof that Defendant and Plaintiff’s ex-wife had a friendship and spoke frequently. It was also undisputed that the ex-wife had engaged in sexual intercourse with a third party during the marriage, and that she and Defendant entered into a romantic relationship shortly after her separation from Plaintiff.

Because, as the appellate court states, adultery is almost always proven through circumstantial evidence, the evidence Plaintiff submitted was sufficient to establish the burden of production for his claim for criminal conversation and alienation of affection to be heard in the trial court. Therefore, the Court of Appeals determined that the trial court erred in granting the motion for summary judgment, and the decision was reversed and remanded.