The success rate of alienation of affection cases is low in absolute terms and misleading in the headlines. In North Carolina, where roughly 200 to 250 of these lawsuits are filed each year, only a small fraction reach trial and fewer still produce a financial award. The tort lets a married person sue a third party whose conduct destroyed the marriage, and while occasional verdicts run into the millions, the everyday reality is that these claims are difficult to prove, expensive to pursue, and available in only a handful of states.
Where the Claim Can Still Be Filed
As of early 2026, five states recognize alienation of affection: Hawaii, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah. Every other state has abolished the tort by legislation or court ruling. New Mexico was the most recent to eliminate it, in Butterworth v. Jackson on January 26, 2026.1New Mexico Courts. NM Supreme Court Issues Opinion Abolishing Lawsuits for Alienation of Affections
North Carolina generates the overwhelming majority of this litigation nationally, produces the largest known verdicts, and has by far the deepest body of case law on the tort. If you are researching whether one of these cases can succeed, North Carolina law is probably what governs.
The Three Elements You Have to Prove
Whether a case succeeds turns almost entirely on the plaintiff’s ability to prove three things.
First, that a genuine, loving marriage existed before the third party arrived. The relationship does not need to have been perfect, but real love and affection must have been present. Testimony from friends, family, and the spouses, along with photos, messages, and evidence of shared life, typically carries this element.
Second, that the affection was destroyed and that the destruction connects to the third party’s conduct rather than the ordinary strain of marriage. Causation is where cases most often collapse. If the marriage was already deteriorating before the defendant appeared, this element becomes very hard to establish.
Third, that the third party acted in a way that foreseeably interfered with the marriage. You do not have to prove the defendant set out with a specific plan to end your marriage, only that they acted intentionally in ways predictably damaging to it. A defendant who genuinely did not know your spouse was married has a valid defense. The interference does not have to be sexual, though it often is.
Why Most Cases Do Not Succeed
The multi-million-dollar verdicts get the coverage. The typical case looks nothing like them. Most alienation of affection filings settle for modest amounts, get dismissed, or are dropped before trial. A few patterns explain the attrition.
Causation is the usual failure point. Marriages rarely end because of one outsider, and juries are skeptical when the record shows serious pre-existing problems. Defense attorneys work hard to surface arguments, separations, counseling history, and any other sign the marriage was already failing.
Collectability quietly kills many otherwise viable cases. A large verdict against a defendant with modest income and no significant assets is worth very little in practice. Experienced attorneys evaluate the defendant’s finances before recommending the case move forward, because a $9 million judgment you cannot collect is not a success.
Several defenses succeed with regularity:
- Pre-existing marital problems that predate the defendant’s involvement.
- In North Carolina, conduct occurring after the spouses physically separated with the intent that the separation be permanent.
- The defendant’s genuine lack of knowledge that your spouse was married.
- Evidence that the plaintiff knew about, accepted, or facilitated the relationship.
- Missing the statute of limitations. North Carolina imposes a three-year deadline running from the date of the interfering conduct, not the date you found out.
What Separates the Wins
The strength of the evidence is the single biggest predictor of a favorable outcome. Cases built on suspicion and circumstantial hints rarely survive; cases with direct documentation of the interference tend to produce results.
The most useful evidence is usually text messages, emails, and social media exchanges between the spouse and the third party. Those messages often establish the timeline, the nature of the relationship, the defendant’s awareness that the spouse was married, and the shift in the spouse’s attitude toward the marriage. Financial records showing gifts, travel, hotel stays, or other spending tied to the relationship add weight.
Witness testimony from people who saw the marriage before and after the interference helps show the contrast. Your own account matters, but juries credit it more when documents and outside witnesses back it up. A consistent, believable timeline outperforms emotional appeal.
Notable Verdicts
When these cases do win at trial, the numbers can be striking. The largest known award came in a 2011 Wake County, North Carolina case, where a judge awarded Carol Puryear $30 million against Betty Devin, the woman who became her ex-husband’s new wife; the total included over $10 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages. A Greensboro jury awarded Cynthia Shackelford $9 million in 2010. More recently, a Carteret County jury returned a verdict exceeding $5.5 million, split between roughly $2.56 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages.
These are outliers. They share strong documentary evidence, a clear timeline showing an intact marriage before the defendant’s involvement, and conduct a jury found particularly brazen. Most successful cases resolve for far smaller amounts, and the mega-verdicts often face post-trial challenges or collection problems.
What a Win Actually Pays
A successful claim can produce two categories of damages. Compensatory damages cover the actual harm: emotional distress, mental anguish, humiliation, and loss of consortium, meaning the loss of companionship, affection, intimacy, and the daily benefits of the marital relationship. Because these losses are subjective, the amount depends on how effectively you convey their impact and how credible the jury finds your account.
Punitive damages punish especially outrageous conduct and deter similar behavior. Not every winning case gets them. You typically need aggravating factors beyond the basic elements, such as a prolonged, deliberate campaign to destroy the marriage. When they are awarded, they often exceed the compensatory portion, as the Puryear and Carteret County verdicts show.
Then the tax bill arrives. Money recovered in an alienation of affection case is generally taxable income. Federal law excludes damages received on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness, but explicitly states that emotional distress does not qualify as a physical injury for that purpose.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 104 – Compensation for Injuries or Sickness Because these damages compensate for emotional harm, both the compensatory and punitive portions of the award are included in gross income.3Internal Revenue Service.