Kyrsten Sinema affair lawsuit: What are 'homewrecker' laws?

Former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is being sued for allegedly destroying a 14-year marriage thanks to a rare "homewrecker law."

Sinema is being sued in North Carolina, one of the few states that still allows residents to file a civil lawsuit against someone for breaking up their marriage.

The suits have resulted in multimillion dollar payouts being awarded to jilted spouses. In November, a TikTok influencer was ordered to pay $1.75 million to her manager’s ex-wife after she was accused of having an affair with the married man, local media reported.

Here's what to know about "homewrecker laws":

What is a homewrecker law?

The laws, legally known as alienation of affection laws, allow a spouse to sue a person who caused their marriage to end, according to Cornell Law School.

"Separate from any divorce proceedings, the spouse bringing an alienation of affection suit must show that the accused individual took steps that a reasonable person would expect and did result in the ending of the affectionate marriage between the couple," the school said.

The United States inherited the laws from the English common-law system, but most states have since abolished them. Sinema's home state of Arizona, for example, eliminated such claims in 1973. The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that the claims should be abolished in 1992.

How many states have homewrecker laws?

Alienation of affection lawsuits can still be brought in at least five states: Mississippi, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah, according to a 2016 Duke Law Journal article.

The status of these claims in New Mexico was uncertain because the state Supreme Court had not explicitly abolished them, the article said. In 2025, when the high court was asked to determine whether alienation of affection remains a valid basis for a civil lawsuit, the court dismissed the matter, according to The Tri-City Record.

“The reasoning is that intermarital activity ordinarily should not be the basis for tort liability, and that the public policy of New Mexico to avoid inquiry to what went wrong in a marriage is no longer well founded...” New Mexico Chief Justice David Thomson said, according to the outlet.

A state lawmaker in Utah has also recently proposed a bill that would eliminate the claims.

Who can be sued?

Typically, the cases involve a spouse suing someone who encouraged their partner to cheat on or divorce them, according to Cornell Law School.

Contributing: Ronald J. Hansen, Arizona Republic