Larry Hartstein wrote an interesting article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week about how lawyers are using facebook for evidence in divorce cases.
The article is based on a recent survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, which found that 81% of lawyers part of the organization have increased their use of social media for evidence within the last 5 years. And there’s a clear preference for which site’s the most valuable: 66% of those lawyers say it’s Facebook, while only 15% say it’s MySpace.
Larry gives this case for example:
A woman was getting divorced from her alcoholic husband and seeking custody of their kids. The husband told the judge he had found God and hadn’t had a drink in months, but Altshuler [the woman's lawyer] found a recent Facebook photo showing him “holding a beer in each hand with a joint in his mouth,” the lawyer said.
The article reminds me of a feature in Time Magazine last year about people posting details about their divorce online. It commented on how lawyers use these social media sites to gain an advantage in the courtroom:
Battles over finances and custody remain the Iwo Jima and Stalingrad of divorce cases. Opposing lawyers will press any advantage they have, and personal information on sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn is like decoded bulletins from enemy territory. “It’s now just routine for us to go over with clients whether they have an active presence on the Web and if they Twitter or have a MySpace page,” says Joseph Cordell of Cordell & Cordell, a domestic-relations law firm with offices in 10 states. He advises his mostly male clients to scour their page — and their girlfriend’s — for anything that could be used by their ex’s legal team. Then Cordell studies the page of the soon-to-be ex-wife.
If you’re expecting to get divorced, you should take a look at what you’ve already posted on your online profiles to make sure there’s nothing that might be used as evidence against you. And once you’re in the middle of the divorce, don’t post about it.
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Here’s a specific story of a woman and her divorce told through Facebook.
http://www.facebookcheating.com/archives/facebook-divorce/
It’s sad.