Eighty-one percent of divorce attorneys surveyed by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) say the number of cases citing evidence from social networking sites has increased in the past five years, according to a press release.
One of the most popular such services is Facebook, cited in the release as a "primary source for compromising information," cited as the primary source of incriminating information by 66 percent of respondents. MySpace was the second-most popular at 15 percent, with Twitter at 5 percent. LinkedIn is another popular social networking site, catering to business people.
AAML president Marlene Eskind Moses was quoted in the release:
"If you publicly post any contradictions to previously made statements and promises, an estranged spouse will certainly be one of the first people to notice and make use of that evidence."
Therefore, divorce attorneys in Chicago most likely will tell their clients to err on the side of caution when updating their Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or other social networking accounts. On the other hand, according to an article in Time Magazine, lawyers "love these sites" when they're able to find evidence against the opposing spouse.
The article suggests just a few examples of potentially damaging evidence divorce lawyers may find through social networking sites:
Did your husband's new girlfriend Twitter about getting a piece of jewelry? The court might regard that as marital assets being disbursed to a third party. Did your wife tell the court she's incapable of getting a job? Then your lawyer should ask why she's pursuing job interviews through LinkedIn.
In other words, the line between the physical world and the virtual world is quite porous.
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