Family Law

Facebook Still Great Source for Evidence in Family Law Cases

By J. Benjamin Stevens

As I've posted many times before (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), Facebook has become a factor in a growing number of Family Court cases.  A recent article discussed the many ways that Facebook has continued turning virtual reality into real-life divorce drama, including:

• Husband goes on Match.com and declares his single, childless status while seeking primary custody of said nonexistent children.
• Husband denies anger management issues but posts on Facebook in his "write something about yourself" section: "If you have the balls to get in my face, I'll kick your ass into submission."
• Father seeks custody of the kids, claiming (among other things) that his ex-wife never attends the events of their young ones. Subpoenaed evidence from the gaming site World of Warcraft tracks her there with her boyfriend at the precise time she was supposed to be out with the children. Mom loves Facebook's Farmville, too, at all the wrong times.
• Mom denies in court that she smokes marijuana but posts partying, pot-smoking photos of herself on Facebook.

• Remember not to post anything that you don't want the Judge to see.
• Be careful who you try to recruit to your side, because your words can come back to haunt you.
• Don't post any compromising photographs.
• Utilize privacy settings to minimize who has access to your information.

Source:  "Divorce Lawyers: Facebook Tops in Online Evidence" by Leanne Italie, published at ParentDish.

Full post as published by SC Family Law Blog on July 11, 2010 (boomark / email).