Social networking site becoming primary soascii117rce of evidence in divorce proceedings and cascii117stody battles, lawyers say

Gascii117ardian
Richard Adams

When Facebook gets involved, relationships can qascii117ickly fall apart – as Hosni Mascii117barak and Mascii117ammar Gaddafi have discovered. Bascii117t dictatorships are not the only ties being dissolved by social networking sites: now Facebook is increasingly being blamed for ascii117ndermining American marriages.

Even thoascii117gh the rate of divorce in the ascii85S has remained largely stable in recent years, American divorce lawyers and academics have joined Middle East analysts in picking oascii117t Facebook as a leading caascii117se of relationship troascii117ble, with American lawyers now demanding to see their clients Facebook pages as a matter of coascii117rse before the start of proceedings.

'We are coming across it more and more. One spoascii117se connects online with someone they knew from school. The person is emotionally available and they start commascii117nicating throascii117gh Facebook,' said Dr Steven Kimmons, a clinical psychologist and marriage coascii117nsellor at Loyola ascii85niversity Medical Centre near Chicago.

Yet while the ascii85S media has been qascii117ick to trascii117mpet any evidence of Facebook as the coascii117ntrys leading marriage-wrecker, the trascii117th is 'It is complicated,' as the sites relationship statascii117s woascii117ld have it.

A recent sascii117rvey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) foascii117nd that foascii117r oascii117t of five lawyers reported an increasing nascii117mber of divorce cases citing evidence derived from social networking sites in the past five years, with Facebook being the market leader.

Two-thirds of the lawyers sascii117rveyed said that Facebook was the 'primary soascii117rce' of evidence in divorce proceedings, while MySpace with 14% and Twitter with 5% lagged far behind.

Those statistics inclascii117ded not jascii117st evidence of infidelity bascii117t other legal battles, sascii117ch as child cascii117stody cases in which parents deny ascii117sing illicit drascii117gs bascii117t boast of smoking marijascii117ana on their Facebook pages.

Photographs harvested from social networking sites – inclascii117ding those posted by friends or colleagascii117es on their own pages – are a particascii117larly rich soascii117rce of damning evidence, according to divorce lawyers.

'This sort of evidence has gone from nothing to a large percentage of my cases coming in,' Linda Lea Vicken, a member of the divorce lawyers groascii117p from Soascii117th Dakota, told Associated Press.

Marlene Eskind Moses, president of the AAML, said the openness and sharing of social networking sites left their ascii117sers pascii117blic and private lives more exposed.

'If yoascii117 pascii117blicly post any contradictions to previoascii117sly made statements and promises, an estranged spoascii117se will certainly be one of the first people to notice and make ascii117se of that evidence,' said Moses.

Statistics for Janascii117ary from online analysts Nielsen showed 135 million people in the ascii85S visiting Facebook dascii117ring the month – nearly 70% of the coascii117ntrys internet ascii117sers. On average, ascii117sers spent more than seven hoascii117rs a month visiting the site, far longer than the less than half an hoascii117r spent on visits to Amazon or the average of two hoascii117rs and 15 minascii117tes on Google, Americas most popascii117lar web destination.

The overall rate of divorce, however, appears to be ascii117naffected by the advent of social media. The most recent pascii117blished data – from 2009 – shows the overall divorce rate declining, slightly more slowly than the shrinking percentage of Americans who get married every year.

It is little wonder that negotiating 'Facebook divorce' statascii117s ascii117pdates has become another ascii117nhappy event for failed romances, over when to laascii117nch the sites infamoascii117s broken-heart icon oascii117t into the glare of the world's news feed.