USA Today published an article in yesterday's edition (2/14/08) about electronic messages promulgating a divorce or at least, being used as evidence. According to the article, about 88% of American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers say they've seen an increase in the number of divorce cases using electronic data as evidence during the past 5 years. The evidence is being used to catch people in the midst of affairs and hiding assets, such as buildings, to avoid having to divide the same pursuant to a divorce proceeding.
Lawyers are also looking at MySpace and Facebook pages as well as electronic calendars and other computerized data. Also, spouses are "email snooping," that is, looking at a spouse's private email and text messages. Look at what happened to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick--he and a former chief of staff are under investigation after a newspaper revealed contents of their text messages on city-issued paging devices.
The article notes that electronic evidence probably has not led to more divorces but makes evidence gathering easier. The upshot is: be a sleuth if you believe funny stuff is going on; be discreet if you are doing the funny stuff.
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Jennifer Jaskolka-Brown, an Iowa attorney located at 6601 Westown Parkway, Suite 200, West Des Moines, Iowa, (515) 247-4705, practices in general civil litigation with an emphasis in Iowa Family Law issues. She provides guidance in family law matters from divorce, paternity, disestablishment of paternity to adoption,and guardianships. She also provides representation in a wide-variety of civil litigation issues.
