Facebook cited in a third of all divorce cases: ‘It’s like having a massive public noticeboard’

Facebook is now cited in about a third of all divorce cases, researchers said.

“Social media provides an ongoing log of our lives,” said Lyn Ayrton, a managing partner with the law firm Lake Legal, The Daily Mirror reported. “The sharing of written posts and pictures, often with geo-tagging, provides a record of activities that can be used in a court case.”

Frequently, warring parties in divorce cases now turn to Facebook as a truth teller of claims, she said.

“Often, if a partner refers to an impending bonus, a new job offer or plans for a holiday, it may provide evidence that they are not telling the truth about their financial position,” she said, The Daily Mirror reported. “At the very least, it could call their credibility into question. It’s like having a massive public noticeboard.”

And it’s especially helpful with providing information about infidelities and new relationships, The Daily Mirror said.

“Somebody said she was not in a relationship with anybody new but then posted a message inviting everybody to a housewarming party for her and her boyfriend,” Ms. Ayrton said, The Daily Mirror reported.

Julian Hawkhead, a managing partner at Stowe Family Law, said: “Photographs and comments made on these forums can be used as evidence of relationships or of a lifestyle which contradicts what people will otherwise try to portray. We regularly find clients coming to us with information they have found which is available in the public domain with proof of a relationship. … Our in-house forensic accountancy team will often find rich pickings in gathering financial information through a Google search about a party, their location, where they have been and what they are doing with their lives.”