What a Tangled Social Networking Web We Weave
Social networking sites such as Facebook are playing an increasingly important role in divorces, family law attorneys report.

June 12, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Facebook is the most popular social networking site on the Internet, helping users to reconnect with old friends and family and helping them make new friends. Facebook is also an increasingly popular and effective tool in divorce cases.

According to a survey of its members by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, more than 80 percent of divorce attorneys have seen an increase in cases involving evidence obtained from social networking in the past five years. The website providing the most evidence? Facebook, with 66 percent of the survey's participants pointing to it as a source of useful divorce data.

Going from "LOL" to "OMG"

Divorce lawyers across the country are now routinely mining the Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking accounts of the spouses of their clients for incriminating evidence. What they're finding is evidence galore of flirtations, cheating, partying, lies about marital status, falsehoods about being parents, information about hidden income and assets - all of which can prove devastating in a family court where matters of child custody and divorce are being settled before a judge.

A New Jersey couple profiled in the Star-Ledger found Facebook complicating their custody battle when their 16-year-old daughter, while in her father's care, posted photos on Facebook of drinking with her friends. The mother used the photo as part of an argument in court for custody of the girl, contending that the father wasn't setting suitable limits.

In another case, a Hackensack lawyer told the newspaper of a wife who found her husband on dating sites claiming to be a single man without children - public lies, she pointed out to the judge presiding over her divorce case.

Even More Damage

The chair of the family practice division of the New Jersey Bar Association pointed out to the Star-Ledger that it's not only friends and lawyers who see the postings of divorcing couples using Facebook to vent their feelings about each other. Their children can also read the comments, as can the friends of those kids.

When children see the vitriol spewed by their parents, they're understandably devastated, regardless of how vindicated the parents themselves may feel about the comments.

What Legal Experts Say About Social Networking

Divorce lawyers say it's best to leave all comments and photos about soon-to-be-ex and any girlfriends or boyfriends clients might be romancing. Don't put anything on your Facebook page that you wouldn't want your spouse's lawyer to see, they advise.

Don't brag about what a great kisser your new special friend is and don't tell everyone about the fancy motorcycle you purchased with money you made under the table. Keep this very public information discreet, clean and above board, the family law attorneys say.

Above all, don't delude yourself into thinking only your friends can see the information you've posted on your social network pages. No matter how closely held you believe the information to be, investigators (and friends of yours who are also friends of your spouse) can mine the pages and posts.

To find out how Facebook and other social networking sites can affect you in your divorce, contact a New Jersey divorce attorney.

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