Alienation of affection in the State of Texas

I have received a few phone calls on this matter so I will repost on this issue.



I have posted on this subject before so you can look back on this blog & read my comments before.  It's been a long time since I posted comments on alienation of affection.  Since this matter is a "mute" issue in Texas it just not come up much.  However, recently several people have called me regarding this matter. 

I hope this post clarifies this topic for you.



The Texas legislature eliminated "alienation of affection" as a possible lawsuit many years ago.



In other words, if your spouse is involved with someone else, you cannot sue that person for "dating" your spouse.  There is no lawsuit available to sue that person.  No judge can do "anything" to that person for "entrapping" your spouse and/or causing your spouse to fall in love with that person.  You cannot get any sort of damages (money) from that person.  A judge cannot issue a restraining order against that person. 



If you are angry that your spouse spent money on a third party, then you would need to sue for divorce and in the divorce ask the judge to order your spouse to "reimburse" you for community funds spent on a third party. For example, spouse spent $10,000 on a third party -- you are entitled to $5,000 of reimbursement since 50% of the money is yours and you did not want your 50% spent on the third party. 



In summary, a judge does not have any sort of legal remedy that he/she is able to "punish" the third party (the person dating your spouse) in the State of Texas. 







However, if the person is harrassing you with phone calls or threats of bodily harm, then call the police or the District Attorney's office.  That is a criminal matter.  That would be completely different than a civil matter. 



Civil and criminal lawsuits are handled completely different;



     *  Civil matters are where you sue someone.  Civil cases are between individuals. 



     *  Criminal lawsuits are where the persons violates a law and the community sues the person and the punishment would be jail time and/or a fine (money).  The District Attorney represents the community.  You would not be involved.  You might be called as a witness since you would be the "victim".