Infidelity, Divorce, and Lawsuits - Understanding Alienation of Affections and Criminal Conversation

Information presented in this article is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered legal advice. Legal references in this article apply to laws in the state of North Carolina.

If you discover that your spouse is/was involved in an extramarital affair or another third party's actions have threatened the stability of your marriage and/or led to divorce, you may have grounds for a lawsuit in North Carolina. North Carolina is one of few states that recognize alienation of affections and criminal conversation as torts, or wrongdoings that allow the plaintiff to recover damages. The basis of such laws, point to a type of injury or loss that occurs to the innocent spouse when a third party acts in a manner that is destructive to the marriage.

Criminal Law

The foundation of a criminal conversation claim is injury, loss, or damage based on actual sexual intercourse between the plaintiff's spouse and the third party (defendant). Under North Carolina law, each provable act of intercourse gives rise to a separate criminal conversations claim. In order to recover damages on the basis of criminal conversation, you must prove that: 1) the act of sexual intercourse took place between your spouse and the defendant, 2) you have a valid, existing marriage, and 3) the adulterous act or acts took place within the three-year statute of limitations. Consent by the plaintiff to extramarital sexual intercourse is the only viable defense to a criminal conversations claim. Ignorance, seduction, marital instability, and even separation are not valid defenses.

Infidelity, Divorce, and Lawsuits - Understanding Alienation of Affections and Criminal Conversation

Alienation of affections is somewhat more difficult to prove than criminal conversation. The basis for this claim is that a third party (defendant) acted with intention, in such manner, as to alienate the innocent spouse from the affection of the other spouse. This claim does not have to be based on adultery, and can therefore be brought against lovers, clergy, family members, or anyone who intentionally seeks to break up a marriage. To successfully bring this claim, the plaintiff must show that: 1) there was some degree of love between the married couple, 2) he/she suffered loss when the love was alienated or destroyed, and 3) the third party's (defendant) intent was to alienate or destroy the marriage. Though intercourse may strengthen the claim, proving "intent" opens this claim to several defenses. Like criminal conversation, alienation of affection has a three-year statute of limitations.

North Carolina jurors have been very generous in deliberating in favor of the innocent spouse. In rare cases North Carolina jurors have awarded damages in excess of million for the plaintiff. Typical damages are awarded in amounts ranging in the tens of thousands.

Infidelity, Divorce, and Lawsuits - Understanding Alienation of Affections and Criminal Conversation

Alesia M. Vick is the lead attorney at the Law Offices of Alesia M. Vick in Knightdale, NC. She is a licensed and practicing attorney in North Carolina. She practices in the area of family law - divorce, separation, child custody, and adoption. Her written article topics include "Female Divorce Attorneys - Are They Better?" and "Dads and Divorce – What Today's Fathers Need to Know Before Entering the Courtroom". More about Attorney Alesia M. Vick can be found on her firm website at http://www.VickLegal.com

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Social Networking, The Pros and Cons of Social Networks

Social Networking has become increasingly popular nowadays as there are a lot of sites that offer this service. MySpace and Friendster are two of the most popular sites that aim to build communities of people who share common interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others.

THE PROS

Network Marketing

A social networking site is like a virtual meeting place where people can hang out and discuss different topics. Anything under the sun, in fact. Some use these networking sites to promote their blogs, to post bulletins and updates or to use them as a bridge to a future love interest.

Social Networking, The Pros and Cons of Social Networks

These are just a few of the reasons why social networking is getting a lot of attention lately -- it makes life more exciting for many people.

THE CONS

However, it would be best to make sure that safety and security are the topmost concerns of the social networking site that you currently use. This is because social networking sites require or give you the option to provide personal information such as your name, location, and email address. Unfortunately some people can take this as an opportunity for identity theft. They can copy your information and pretend to be "you" when engaging in illegal activities. Bad news! So be cautious with what you enter into an online networking site.

You could fall into the trap of someone who pretends to be somebody else. For example, they might offer you a job or want to meet up with you just to get your money. This can lead to cyberstalking, where the stalker uses electronic media such as the Internet to pursue or harass you.

THE CONCLUSION

So take your time and be careful in choosing who to trust so you can hopefully avoid this sort of unpleasant thing happening to you. Apart from that, social networking is great thing.

Social Networking, The Pros and Cons of Social Networks

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Networking - Relax!

Networking - relax! - Gill Fernley and Justin Baker, Six Degrees Network

Anyone who has been to a networking event has met business card thruster guy. Won't leave you alone, thrust their card in your face, every attempt at conversation gets quickly turned into a sales pitch. These people aren't networking, they're selling. Badly.

Network Marketing

Let me share with you some of my thoughts on what puts the 'work' in networking. Networking is a form of marketing, and any form of marketing is most effective when you don't come straight out and say "buy this!" The best marketing techniques work on building relationships - courting trust, showing your intentions to be honourable in what you are offering. And there are certain market characteristics too:

Networking - Relax!

People buy people. People work with (and refer) people they like. People don't like being sold to.

That's why the best networkers aren't the great sales gurus, they're the archetypal 'people person'. They are interested in other people and what they do. They want to help as well as be helped, not just because it will see them get business in the future, but because they like helping others. And most importantly, they don't talk - they listen.

Many networking events involve a 'round robin' of everyone there, which certainly has its uses - you get to tell everyone who you are and what you do, and if there is someone there who is looking for the service you provide, they will very likely come up to you for a chat. But that's not networking, that's hit and miss, and it's very important to understand the difference.

What I call hit and miss is what I just described above. You tell as many people in one go what you do in the hope that one of them is looking for it - the social equivalent of a mailshot, and just about as effective.

When you network, it involves who you get to know, and who they know, and who they know. This is called Six Degrees of Separation, the theory of psychologist Stanley Milgram. Milgram theorised that there was a chain of six people or less connecting us to everyone else on the planet, and this is also where Six Degrees Network gets its name from. This, to us, is exactly what networking is about: working that chain, getting your details through to the person at the other end, by getting to know people who can pass that information on. Word-of-mouth marketing relies on this being a small world, and networking makes it even smaller. This is also why the IT consultant, for example, shouldn't ignore the mechanic or the florist - firstly it's rude, and secondly who knows who they know?

So how do you get your name down that chain? It's unfortunate but true, that meeting a truly nice person is a rare occurrence these days. People remember meeting them when they do, and they feel an obligation to do something nice for them in return. Business card thruster guy will be bunched in with all the rest that person has ever met, but you, the sincere, friendly person who they chewed the fat with for half an hour about their business, their family and life in general, will be remembered. And if someone ever mentions your type of service to them in the future, you get the all-important "You know, I met a really nice guy/girl who does that called..." Just in case business card thruster guy is reading this and wonders what my point is here, this is called a referral. Its ok, I know you haven't seen one before. Don't be scared.

Networking - Relax!

Gill Fernley and Justin Baker are the founders of Six Degrees Business Network, a group organising networking events with a social slant in the UK. You can find out more at www.sixdegreesnetwork.co.uk [http://www.sixdegreesnetwork.co.uk].

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