If a spouse had an affair, it’s easy to blame the other party for breaking up the marriage, and for the wronged spouse to have a strong desire for revenge. In previous decades, spouses could sue the third party in situations like that for alienation of affection.
Alienation of affection occurs when two spouses are married, and a third party does something to interfere with the marriage. In order to prove alienation of affection, normally the wronged spouse must prove that the marriage was a loving one, the spousal love was destroyed, and the third party’s conduct caused the loss of love between the spouses.
Over the past few years, most states have abolished the right to bring a case for alienation of affection. Courts and society have viewed those laws as being hard to apply in modern society, since divorce and adultery are much more common now. Currently, only eight states allow alienation of affection lawsuits, and Florida is not one of them.
Therefore, if your spouse had an affair in Florida, you will not be able to bring a lawsuit against his or her romantic partner related to the affair for alienation of affection. However, you may be able to introduce evidence about the affair in court in order to affect the amount of alimony.
Under Florida law, the court is allowed to consider the adultery of either spouse and the circumstances surrounding the adultery in determining the amount of alimony.