Fort Lauderdale Divorce Lawyer Blog
Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyers are using Facebook to find the ammunition they need to help their clients’ cases. Broward County lawyers love these sites because they are evidentiary gold mines. Fort Lauderdale marital and family law attorneys browse wall posts and atatus updates on Facebook to uncover information about the other party. Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn are also popular social networking sites which lawyers utilize to build their cases when representing divorce clients in Weston, Cooper City, Pembroke Pines, Plantation and other cities in Broward County.
Social networking sites are great for reconnecting, but when couples are disconnecting, the situation turns ugly. Battles over finances and custody are the two hot buttons during dissolution proceedings. Lawyers say it has become routine for them to ask their clients if they have an active presence on these social networking websites. If so, the lawyers then scour their client’s pages and the pages of their girlfriends or boyfriends to find anything that could be used by their ex’s legal team.
Did your husband’s new girlfriend Twitter about a piece of jewelry he bought her? A court might regard this as marital assets being disbursed to a third party. Did your wife tell the court she is incapable of getting a job, but you found her pursuing job interviews on LinkedIn? The court might refuse her alimony. Did your ex wife assure the court during a custody hearing that she had not been drinking, but her MySpace page has dated photos revealing otherwise? The court will regard her as an unfit mother.
Social networking sites have become an irresistible venue for spouses who are confused, hurt and upset during their divorce. Status updates and wall posts are means to communicate anger with their ex spouse without having to actually talk to him or her. But these verbal attacks can get ugly. In the past, social networking sites have been part of harassment campaigns resulting in the court’s issuance of civil protective orders.
An even greater problem arises when children are involved. The kids go on website fishing expeditions and find out the juicy secrets behind their parent’s divorce. They also read the spiteful messages their parents write. Issuing an order to remove a child’s access to Facebook has thus far been fruitless.