Social Media's Role in Your Divorce

Social networking and media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can provide a wealth of evidence during a divorce.

2012-09-06

September 06, 2012 (Press-News.org) Social Media's Role in Your Divorce

Digital technology and social media are ever-present in American's lives. Accordingly, when couples divorce, social media is playing a role in the divorce process. Information shared on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter may have been the catalyst behind the divorce, or they may serve as an evidentiary goldmine during a contested proceeding. Knowing how social media sites and digital technology can affect a divorce is important for anyone in this information age.

The Break-Up

Did Facebook cause your break-up? According to a recent poll in England, one-third of all divorce cases cited Facebook and other social media sites as one of the primary causes of their divorce. The people polled cited Facebook flirting and inappropriate messaging as main contributors to their break-up.

The Divorce Proceeding

Social media sites are also becoming a key component of divorce and custody cases. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) recently revealed that in the last five years, Facebook and social media posts have been a primary source of divorce trial evidence. The AAML estimates that 80 percent of divorce cases now include evidence gleaned from social media and networking sites.

Parties to custody and divorce disputes greatly underestimate the reach of their Facebook status updates and uploaded pictures. Spouses - and their attorneys - are watching each other online and looking for things to use against the other in a divorce proceeding. Things that are often used as evidence are status updates or pictures that imply infidelities, partying or bad parenting decisions. Do not think a person is safe just because they have "defriended" their spouse; a mutual friend could be monitoring the ex's posts looking for evidence.

The court might also order you to provide access to your social media accounts to the other side as part of the disclosure process. For example, a Connecticut judge recently ordered a divorcing couple to share their Facebook and other online account passwords. While some may find such a ruling an invasion of privacy, others like the Connecticut judge mentioned, find the evidence revealed by social media sites outweighs the privacy right and is integral to deciding custody and divorce decisions.

Dividing Digital Assets

Families with a digital reputation -- such as the website of a family-owned business -- have additional issues when it comes to property division. They must divide traditional marital assets like homes and bank accounts and also determine such intangible issues like:
-The virtual friends on a joint social networking site
-The shared library of music, movie and television downloads
-Family photographs uploaded to a photography sharing site like Shutterfly, Flickr or Winkflash
-Pets, food and other items purchased for online games like Farmville

These are novel issues in divorce cases these days and are difficult to determine. Generally, however, if these items are purchased during the marriage, they constitute community or marital property that is subject to division.

Protecting Your Privacy and Your Assets

The best thing you can do to protect yourself in the divorce process is to suspend or deactivate your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts. If you can't bring yourself to deactivate them, make sure your privacy settings are set to limit as much access as possible and that you police the content of both your posts and what others post about you.

If you are contemplating divorce, or are currently involved in one, contact an experienced divorce attorney in your area to learn more about your legal rights and options.

Article provided by Law Offices of Disrud and Garcia
Visit us at www.disrudgarcialaw.com/

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Workplace Fatalities Increased in 2010, Federal Report Shows

2012-09-06

Workplace Fatalities Increased in 2010, Federal Report Shows In 2010, the number of workplace fatalities in the United States rose 3.3 percent from 2009's numbers, to a total of 4,690 worker deaths. While several large workplace disasters contributed to the increase, 4,551 workers not involved in these tragedies were killed on the job. What Were Common Causes of Workplace Fatalities in 2010? Transportation accidents were the number one cause of workplace fatalities in 2010, causing 1,857 deaths nationwide and increasing by 100 from 2009. The second most common ...

Summer Road Trips Often End in Tragic Accidents

2012-09-06

Summer Road Trips Often End in Tragic Accidents Summer road trips can be fun for the whole family. They are full of sun, fun and memories. Unfortunately, though, summer road trips can also end in tragedy. In fact, eight of the ten deadliest days on the road all take place between Independence Day and Labor Day. Furthermore, the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day is tragically known as the "100 deadliest days on the road for teens," and data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that August is the deadliest month ...

Florida Foreclosures Continue to Increase

2012-09-06

Florida Foreclosures Continue to Increase In the last 12 months, home prices have increased in Miami, Fort Myers and other Florida resort communities. Despite the improvement in house prices, Florida foreclosures continue to escalate at a rapid rate. Economists warn that the sudden upswing in home value is not a sign that Florida's foreclosure crisis is over. In fact, Florida's distressed property inventory is estimated at 1.1 million. That number includes: -530,000 homes where the mortgages are 90 days delinquent and subject to foreclosure -200,000 Real Estate ...

New York Workplace Injury Attorneys Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman Win Appeal of Construction Accident Case

2012-09-06

The personal injury attorneys at Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman recently received a favorable appellate court opinion after a long court battle. The case (index #19005/06) involved a 23-year-old construction worker who fractured several bones after falling from a ladder. The worker had to undergo two surgeries as a result of his injuries. A personal injury lawsuit was filed against the owner of the premises on which the worker was hurt. As noted in the appellate opinion, the court had previously granted a motion for summary judgment holding the property owner liable, ...

Missed Goals & Budget Cuts Adds to New Jersey's Child Welfare Concerns

2012-09-06

Recently, the U.S. District Court Judge who is in charge of supervising the court-appointed monitoring of New Jersey's child welfare system voiced his concerns regarding budgetary cuts to the department's funding. Specifically, the judge's concerns stemmed from a recent $11.5 million cut to New Jersey's Department of Child and Families -- which includes the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS). In response to the budget cuts, the Star-Ledger reported that federal judge Stanley R. Chesler was concerned that "[e]very gain which we have made will start to vanish," ...

New Jersey Bill Limits Social Networking for Registered Sex Offenders

2012-09-06

For those involved in social networking, a day can hardly go by without logging in to keep track of current events -- whether they use Facebook, Google+ or even Twitter. Even for those not involved with social networking, references to the most recent outrageous celebrity "tweet" or updated "status" can be heard almost daily in the media. Since it seems almost impossible to avoid social networking in today's day and age, some lawmakers in New Jersey want to make it a requirement for New Jersey Megan's Law registrants to identify themselves as sex offenders ...

New Research on Shoulder Dystocia

2012-09-06

For many families, worries about birth defects and birth injuries start immediately upon learning of a pregnancy. While many parents fret over finding 10 fingers and 10 toes, there are many defects and injuries that have a more traumatic impact on a child's life than missing digits. One such birth injury is shoulder dystocia with brachial plexus injury. A program was recently developed to help identify women whose unborn children are at an increased risk of this injury. If successful, the program could dramatically reduce this form of birth injury. The Impact of Shoulder ...

Missouri Jury Awards 13.6M To Injured HVAC Technician

2012-09-06

Last week, a Jackson County jury awarded a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) technician $13.6 million in damages for injuries he sustained while working on a commercial grade heat pump -- which, he argued, was defectively designed with insufficient warnings. The award, which was against the manufacturer of the heat pump and included $4.5 million in punitive damages, ends a four year struggle for the victim which began the day of his horrific accident. According to court documents, the victim had been working on the heat pump in the recessed ceiling ...

Eyeglass World Warns About the Dangers of the Sun to Your Eyes

2012-09-06

Eyeglass World warns individuals about the potentially devastating effects the sun can have on unprotected eyes. Proper sunglasses or prescription eyeglasses with added UV protection can help prevent future eye damage and blindness. Prolonged exposure to the harmful sunlight can cause a myriad of eye disorders, including surface damage, cataracts, macular degeneration and possible blindness. The risk of these eye disorders can be decreased by wearing sunglasses when outdoors for long periods of time. "Much of the damage optometrists see can be prevented by continuous ...

America's Best Reminds Parents to Schedule Back-to-School Eye Exams for Their Kids

2012-09-06

Eyeglasses retailer America's Best would like to remind parents of the importance of scheduling back-to-school eye exams for your kids each year. Keeping your child's vision at its best is critical for fostering a learning environment that will help your child thrive. As any parent knows, growing children are changing constantly. For many kids, their vision will be changing right along with their bodies. Regular eye exams are the best way to stay on top of any issues with your child's vision that may develop and to know if any preexisting vision troubles are getting ...

Social Media's Role in Your Divorce

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: