Divorce by Facebook

“Facebook divorce” is being blamed for causing increasing number of marital breakdowns that have occurred as a direct result of information found or discovered on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. While social networking sites allow users to connect with old and new friends, they also create circumstances that may lead to a divorce or child custody battle. More importantly, social networking sites allow divorce lawyers to discover information they might not otherwise find using traditional methods of “discovery”, the process used to gather supporting facts and information in a case. With the increase in social media involvement around the world, it has also caused an increase in couples filing for divorce.

As one attorney in US said, nearly 60 percent of his divorce cases in the last year exclusively dealt with Facebook issues. According to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, more than 80 percent of divorce attorneys have seen a significant increase in cases involving social media.

What we choose to post on the site can tell a lot about the lives we are living. It is the main reason Facebook is mentioned in divorce situations? It appears that it is encouraging more and more affairs. Making it easier for old love interests to reconnect, many individuals have been caught cheating with their spouses. Even if there is no physical contact, it is much easier to message or flirt with people from the past than it was a few years ago. What most people will say and do things on the internet that they often would never think of doing in person. Divorce-Online, a survey by a legal service in the UK, 60 per cent of divorces were accrediting their marriage failure to Facebook.
In one recent incident earlier this year, a woman divorced her husband due to the fact that he did not change his relationship status to married. She claims that she can no longer trust him and yet he promises that it merely slipped his mind to change it. Since they had only been married for two months, the judge sentenced the couple to six months of counselling before considering a divorce. Divorce lawyers forensic financial team can often find rich spoils when gather information through a Google search about a party, their location and what they are doing with their lives. Information in the internet is waiting to be found out at the touch of a button.