The Curtain Closes

Posted on Thursday, April 21, 2011

My name is Meredith Price, and I am the new law clerk for ROBERTSON + ASSOCIATES, PLLC. As I continue to learn the inner-workings of family law, I hope to share my new knowledge with you as well. Hopefully, this little corner of the web world will provide insight into the current family law issues that are reaching the Mississippi courts, and in turn offer a better perception for reaching a satisfying family life.

Marriage is like a theater production. The day you say “I do” the curtain opens and the show begins. In the First Act, you and your spouse are the leading roles and are sometimes accompanied by the supporting roles of your parents, friends, or even children. It is during this First Act of marriage that a couple rides the roller coaster of emotions - happiness, sadness, fear, love, or loneliness. However, these emotions can sometimes lead to a marriage intermission – a stumble in the road, like a separation. Some couples make it through to the Second Act, but for others, the curtain closes.

But what happens if these emotions are brought on by an outsider? In this situation, a spouse may have a claim against the third-party for the alienation of the other spouse’s affection. For this claim, a spouse must establish the wrongful conduct of the third-party, the loss of affection by the spouse, and the connection between the conduct and the loss.

However, there is this pesky time limit. You must bring an alienation of affection claim within three years of the loss of affection. The Mississippi Court of Appeals recently rejected a husband’s claim for alienation of affection after learning of an affair between his wife and another man. The affair occurred three years before he brought the claim. Additionally, the husband acknowledged that he had not noticed any change or loss in his marriage relationship during the affair time period. The court ultimately found the husband’s claim had accrued three years before – on the last day his wife participated in the affair. When the husband argued that a phone call between his wife and the other man three years later continued the affair, the court found the call was too isolated to prove the affair for an alienation of affection claim.

So after the curtain closes or even during a marriage intermission, a spouse may have a claim against an outsider who caused the play to end.

Meredith Price