Family Law

Social Networking Sites Contain Valuable Evidence in Divorce Cases

By Ben Stevens

Lawyers USA featured an article late last week about the types of information that can be found in social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.  The article correctly states that these sites have opened up a potential treasure trove of legal evidence, especially in divorce cases where a person's whereabouts, 'friends' and employment status are often relevant.

Lee Rosen, Melissa Brown, and I were all quoted in this article about the ways that family law attorneys are effectively using these sources of information on their client's behalf – and also the ways that other attorneys are not.  If you are facing a divorce or child custody case, or if you are an attorney who handles these types of cases, you should read this article. 

My quotes are listed below:

'In divorce or child custody cases, what we look for is confessions - things they've done, places they've been [and] people they've had their child around,' said J. Benjamin Stevens of Stevens - MacPhail in Spartanburg, S.C.

For example, a parent who is restrained from taking a child out-of-state might post photos of visiting Disney World or other vacation destinations with the child.

Or, in a custody case that Stevens handled, a father denied drug use but the background of his MySpace page featured marijuana leaves.

A person's LinkedIn profile can contain evidence of earning capacity or job prospects that can be useful in disputes over support payments.

Source: "Divorce Attorneys Are Missing Evidence on Social Media Sites" by Sylvia Hsieh, published at Lawyers USA.

Full post as published by SC Family Law Blog on June 29, 2009 (boomark / email).