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Term Definition
Heart Balm Statutes
- laws in nine states that allow for the recovery of some or all of the following causes of action: alienation of affection, criminal conversion, break of promise to marry and seduction.
Application in Divorce
Heart balm actions make for very nasty court cases, and only nine states -- Illinois, Hawaii, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and Utah -- still permit them. Such actions require the naming of a
defendant
in the divorce.
Generally held to be remnants of an earlier time,
preponderance of evidence
.
See also Marital Torts
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