Can You Sue Another Woman for Destroying Your Marriage in Texas?

Can you sue another woman for destroying your marriage? No. Texas law does not allow one spouse to sue a third party for breaking up a marriage. Texas Family Code §1.107 abolished claims for alienation of affection, and §1.106 did the same for criminal conversation. It does not matter whether you know who she is, whether she knew your spouse was married, or whether you have messages, photographs, receipts, or other evidence of the relationship. Those facts may matter in your divorce, but they do not create a lawsuit against the other person.

Most people who ask this question are not looking for a history lesson about Texas law. They are trying to understand what they can actually do after discovering an affair. They want to know whether someone outside the marriage can be held legally responsible, whether the money spent on the affair can be recovered, and whether what happened could affect child custody, property division, or the future of their family. If you are looking for a more detailed explanation of why Texas abolished these lawsuits and the legal history behind them, you may also find our article, Can You Sue a Homewrecker in Texas?, helpful.

The law’s refusal to recognize a claim against the affair partner does not minimize what happened. It does not suggest the betrayal was insignificant or that your family has not suffered real financial and emotional consequences. Instead, Texas directs your attention toward the legal remedies that still exist. In many divorces, the more important questions involve community property, fraud on the community, reimbursement claims, conservatorship, and protecting your children’s stability after the marriage ends.

That shift in focus is where experienced legal guidance becomes valuable. At The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, we have helped Texas families navigate divorce and custody matters for more than a decade. Led by Bryan Joseph Fagan, a graduate of South Texas College of Law, our firm believes that the best legal strategy begins with education. When you understand what Texas law does—and does not—allow, you can stop pursuing remedies that no longer exist and begin protecting the people and assets that matter most.

What follows is the part that is actually useful: why Texas abolished these lawsuits, when adultery can still affect your divorce, how community funds spent on an affair may be recovered, what role infidelity may play in child custody decisions, and what practical steps you can take to move forward with confidence and clarity.

Key Takeaways

• The other person’s identity is legally irrelevant. Mistress, girlfriend, boyfriend, coworker, stranger — §1.107 closes the claim against “a third party” without qualification.
• It does not matter that she knew he was married. Knowledge was an element of the abolished claims. There is no claim left for it to be an element of.
• Gender makes no difference. A wife suing her husband’s girlfriend and a husband suing his wife’s boyfriend get the same answer.
• Emotional distress is not a workaround. Courts recognize the attempt and reject it, because allowing it would defeat the statutes.
• One narrow exception is worth checking: if the person occupied a position of professional trust, a different body of law may apply — and that claim is not about the affair.
• Money is the one thing that does change your position. Community funds spent on that person are recoverable through your property division, not through a suit against them.

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It Does Not Matter Who She Is

Can you sue another woman for destroying your marriage? No. Texas Family Code §§ 1.106 and 1.107 abolished claims for criminal conversation and alienation of affection, so Texas law does not permit a spouse to sue a third party simply because they participated in an affair. Whether the other person was a mistress, boyfriend, coworker, former partner, or someone who knew your spouse was married does not change the legal answer. If your question is whether you have any legal claims arising from your divorce beyond the affair itself, our guide on Understanding Legal Grounds for Suing Your Ex-Spouse in Texas explains the situations in which Texas law may allow claims against a spouse instead of a third party.

The Legislature deliberately used the broad term “a third party,” making it clear that the identity, gender, or knowledge of the affair partner does not revive a cause of action that Texas has abolished. That does not mean the affair is legally irrelevant. In straightforward divorces, it may simply explain why the marriage ended. In more complex cases, particularly where community funds were spent on gifts, vacations, housing, or other expenses connected to the affair, the focus shifts to issues such as fraud on the community, reimbursement claims, and the equitable division of property under Texas Family Code §§ 7.001 and 7.009.

There is one narrow exception worth considering. If the affair partner occupied a position of professional trust—such as a licensed therapist, counselor, or another professional owing an independent legal duty—the potential claim arises from the abuse of that relationship rather than from the affair itself. For most Texas families, however, the more productive question is not whether you can sue the other person, but what legal remedies remain available through your divorce to protect your finances, your children, and your future.

This describes the general structure of Texas law, not a legal opinion about your situation.

Can I Sue My Husband’s Mistress?

No. Not for the relationship, not for the marriage ending, and not for what it has done to you. This is the single most common form the question takes, and the answer does not soften with the facts. Texas removed the cause of action itself.

What people usually mean when they ask it is something closer to: is there any way to make her face consequences. And the honest answer is that the legal system is not the instrument for that. What Texas will do is look at your marital estate — and if your husband spent community money on her, that is a question a judge will engage with seriously.

So the version of this that goes somewhere is not a suit against her. It is an accounting of what left your marriage on her behalf. Hotel charges, flights, gifts, rent, a phone line, transfers you cannot explain. That is a claim, and it is against your husband in the divorce rather than against her.

Can I Sue My Wife’s Boyfriend?

No, on exactly the same basis. I include this as its own question because men ask it less often and are frequently surprised that the answer is identical — there is a lingering assumption that these claims survive in some gendered form. They do not. §1.107 and §1.106 are written without reference to gender and have been since they were enacted.

Nor does it matter which spouse earned more, who filed first, or who left. The statute closes the claim against the third party in every configuration.

Does It Matter That She Knew He Was Married?

Can you sue another woman for destroying your marriage because she knew your spouse was married? No. Under Texas law, the other person’s knowledge of the marriage does not create a legal claim against them. Before Texas abolished alienation of affection and criminal conversation through Texas Family Code §§ 1.106 and 1.107, proving the third party knew about the marriage could be an important part of the case. Today, those causes of action no longer exist, so whether she knew, pursued your spouse, or continued the relationship after learning about the marriage does not change the outcome. If you’re interested in how Texas law treats unusual civil claims generally, you may also enjoy our article, So You Wanna Sue? What Are Some of the Weirdest Lawsuits You Could File in Texas?.

This is often one of the most frustrating parts of the law for people experiencing infidelity. Clients tell me they have text messages proving the affair partner knew about the marriage, knew about the children, contacted them directly, or even carried on the relationship inside the family home. While those facts may be emotionally significant, they do not revive a claim that the Texas Legislature intentionally abolished. The legal analysis focuses on whether a valid cause of action exists—not on how blameworthy the third party’s conduct may have been.

That does not mean the evidence has no value. In straightforward divorces, it may simply provide context for why the marriage ended. In more complex cases involving community property, however, the same evidence can help establish fraud on the community, trace expenditures on an affair, or support a disproportionate division of the marital estate under Texas Family Code §§ 7.001 and 7.009. In other words, the law is generally not concerned with proving what the affair partner knew—it is concerned with protecting your financial rights and helping the court reach a fair outcome in your divorce.

Why You Are Getting Conflicting Answers Online

Can you sue another woman for destroying your marriage? If you’ve searched online, you’ve probably found articles saying the answer depends on the state. That is true—but it is also the reason so many people become confused. Many national legal websites discuss alienation of affection as though it is still widely available, even though only a small number of states continue to recognize those claims. Texas is not one of them. If you’d like a more detailed discussion of how Texas specifically approaches claims involving an affair partner, read our guide, Can I Sue My Spouse’s Mistress in Texas?.

The second source of confusion is that many online articles describe defenses that apply only in states where the lawsuit still exists. You may read that a defendant can avoid liability by proving they did not know about the marriage, that the spouses were already separated, or that the relationship had already broken down. Those are defenses to a cause of action that Texas abolished decades ago through Texas Family Code §§ 1.106 and 1.107. Because the underlying claim no longer exists in Texas, those defenses generally have no application here.

The better question is not what another state’s law allows—it is what remedies Texas still provides. In straightforward divorces, the affair may have little legal impact beyond explaining why the marriage ended. In more complex cases involving community property, hidden spending, reimbursement claims, or children, Texas law still offers meaningful remedies through the divorce process. Understanding that distinction allows you to focus on the legal options that can actually protect your finances, your parental rights, and your future rather than pursuing a lawsuit Texas courts cannot hear.

Can I Sue Her for Emotional Distress Instead?

✗ Closed to you

Almost never, and it is worth understanding why before you pay someone to try. This is the most frequently attempted workaround, and courts see it coming.

Intentional infliction of emotional distress in Texas is a narrow gap-filler, not a general remedy for being badly treated. The conduct has to be extreme and outrageous measured objectively — a demanding standard that ordinary betrayal, however devastating, does not meet. Courts focus on the conduct itself, not on the emotional consequences alone. Beyond that, courts are alert to claims that are really abolished heart-balm actions under a new label, and permitting one against an affair partner would defeat the purpose of §§1.106 and 1.107.

Where a separate wrong genuinely exists — she published something defamatory about you, recorded you, harassed you after the fact — that is a real claim standing on its own facts. But it is a claim about what she did to you, independent of the relationship. If there is no separate conduct, there is no claim, and relabeling does not create one.

The One Exception: A Position of Trust

Can you sue another woman for destroying your marriage? In almost every case, the answer is no. There is, however, one narrow exception worth examining. If the other person owed you or your spouse an independent professional or fiduciary duty, the potential legal issue is not the affair itself—it is the alleged abuse of that position of trust. That is a very different legal analysis than the claims Texas abolished under Texas Family Code §§ 1.106 and 1.107. If you want to learn more about lawsuits involving an affair partner, our article Can I Sue My Spouse’s Mistress in Texas? provides additional guidance.

The clearest example involves a licensed therapist or mental health counselor who begins a sexual relationship with a client. Texas regulates licensed professionals because they owe legal and ethical duties that go far beyond an ordinary personal relationship. Similar questions can arise when a clergy member was acting as a counselor, although those cases are often more complicated because courts are cautious about becoming involved in matters connected to religious organizations. In straightforward divorces, these situations are uncommon. In more complex cases involving professional misconduct, however, the claim may focus on the violation of a legal duty rather than the relationship itself.

An employer or supervisor usually falls into a different category. An employer is generally not liable simply because two consenting adults had a relationship. However, if the employer independently violated employment laws, breached a fiduciary duty, or engaged in other wrongful conduct directed toward you, separate legal claims may exist that are unrelated to the affair. Understanding that distinction is important because Texas law generally bars claims against an affair partner, but it does not prevent legitimate claims arising from an independent legal duty or other actionable misconduct.

What You Can Actually Do

✓ Open to you

The other person is out of reach. Your marital estate is not. Texas Family Code §7.009 addresses fraud on the community — where a court finds that a spouse depleted community property for their own benefit, the statute directs the court to calculate the depletion, compute the value of the reconstituted estate, and divide that value rather than merely what is left. The court may award you a share of the remaining estate, a money judgment against your spouse, or both.

Separately, §7.001 requires a division the court deems just and right rather than automatically equal, and fault in the breakup can be among the considerations.

I walk through how that claim gets built — establishing what was community property, reconstructing the spending, tracing it, and presenting it — in Can You Sue a Homewrecker in Texas?, along with what does not automatically qualify. If you think there is money to account for, start there.

When You Know Exactly Who It Is

Knowing the person’s name changes your emotional situation and not your legal one — but it does create specific risks that people who do not know the name never face. These are the ones I see.

Who Handles the Financial Side

If the useful claim is about money that left the community estate, the work is tracing and quantifying it. At our firm that sits with a different attorney than the one whose name is on this article.

Our attorneys each focus on different aspects of family law. Cases involving financial tracing, fraud on the community, and complex property issues are directed to the attorney whose practice best matches those issues. We route by the problem, not by who answers the phone.

What I Tell People Who Know the Name

Can you sue another woman for destroying your marriage? When clients ask me that question, I usually tell them the person they most want to hold responsible is the one person Texas law generally places beyond the reach of this type of lawsuit. That is not an oversight by the courts—it is a policy decision made by the Texas Legislature when it abolished claims for alienation of affection and criminal conversation. The conversation then shifts from who caused the pain to what legal remedies still exist. If your situation involves conduct beyond the affair itself, such as unauthorized access to your personal devices or online accounts, you may also find our article Can I Sue My Ex for Hacking My Computer in Texas? helpful.

The next question I ask is simple: What did this cost you financially? In straightforward divorces, the answer may be very little beyond the emotional impact. In more complex cases, however, the affair may have involved community funds spent on gifts, vacations, rent, hotel stays, hidden accounts, or other expenditures that affect the marital estate. That is where Texas law often provides meaningful relief through property division, reimbursement claims, or fraud on the community under Texas Family Code § 7.009.

Almost every family I meet has focused first on the betrayal and only later discovers the financial consequences. That is where the law can make a practical difference. Instead of trying to pursue a lawsuit Texas no longer recognizes, focus on protecting your assets, your children, and your future by identifying the remedies that remain available through your divorce.

Conclusion:

Can you sue another woman for destroying your marriage? Texas law gives a clear answer: generally, no. But that answer is only the beginning of the conversation. While you usually cannot pursue the affair partner directly, you may still have important legal rights involving property division, fraud on the community, reimbursement claims, and child custody depending on the facts of your case. If you’re interested in learning more about how Texas law distinguishes between claims against a third party and claims that may exist against a spouse, read our guide, Can I Sue My Spouse’s Mistress in Texas?.

In straightforward divorces, understanding these legal distinctions early can help you avoid pursuing claims Texas law no longer recognizes. In more complex cases—particularly those involving hidden spending, significant community assets, business ownership, or disputes over children—a carefully developed legal strategy can make a meaningful difference. The focus shifts from assigning blame to protecting your financial future, preserving your parental rights, and ensuring the court has the evidence it needs to reach a fair result.

At The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, we believe families deserve more than legal answers—they deserve clarity, confidence, and a path forward. Our attorneys focus on different areas of Texas family law, allowing us to match your case with the attorney whose experience best fits your circumstances. Whether your divorce involves straightforward property issues or complex questions surrounding adultery, community property, or child custody, our goal is the same: to help you understand your options, protect what matters most, and move forward with greater peace of mind.

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