Facebook, the colossal social network where anyone can connect with anyone from their past or present might be having an effect on divorce rates. Go figure!
Facebook seems to be a tool that can cause serious problems for a marriage that might be on shaky ground already, and this could be that final straw. Some divorce attorneys love the tool for proving marital problems and cite “Facebook connections as reason for divorce” A recent case where a man was going through a divorce said ”Facebook, without a doubt, played a big part in the end of my marriage,” said “Randy,” who’d been married for 20 years. Randy did not wish to be identified by his real name in order to protect his child.
Randy says it all began with the click of the “friend” button on Facebook. The button wasn’t necessarily the cause or the reason, Randy says, “But it was a tool or a symptom, and it certainly helped it along.” This is happening too frequently and divorce lawyers are taking advantage of the trove of information that can be gathered through these social networks. A divorce may not be announced across Facebook, but your friends and connections can be used against you, and your Facebook status may be able to prove emotional and mood issues that could help your spouses divorce attorney build a case against you.
According to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 81 percent of the country’s top divorce attorneys say in the last five years, they’ve seen and used a surge of evidence that came for social networking sites. They go on to state “Facebook holds the distinction of being the unrivaled leader for online divorce evidence with 66% citing it as the primary source.” Source Here
With these numbers rising and Facebook look more like a haven for divorce issues, you really should think twice about what is posted. If you are considering divorce, even amicable divorce, you should review what information you have out on these sites, even if that information is market private, because the lawyers will be digging, and they can get to it or a slipped bit of Facebook information can ruin that amicable divorce and cause more pain.