30th June 2010

According to a new study by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), divorce lawyers in London, Paris and all over the world could soon see a rise in the number of cases using social networking evidence in divorce cases.

The AAML research revealed that 81 percent of its members said they have seen an increase in the last five years of divorce cases where evidence found on sites such as Facebook and MySpace had been used.

One of the most common usages of social networking evidence is where a husband may have forgotten to "de-friend" his wife and then posted photos of his mistress on Facebook , while claiming in the divorce petition that he has not been unfaithful.

Marlene Eskind Moses, president of the AAML, said, "As everyone continues to share more and more aspects of their lives on social networking sites, they leave themselves open to much greater examinations of both their public and private lives in these sensitive situations."

And the trend for using such evidence in a split has already crossed over to the UK as research carried out by Divorce-Online revealed in January that Facebook was cited in one in five of its divorce petitions.

So, divorce solicitors in London, Brighton and elsewhere in the UK could soon be seeking definitive guidance on whether an online Facebook profile page is permissible evidence in a contested UK divorce hearing and, as the nature of social networking is about changing and updating these pages, whether or not a user who changes their profile or removes information and photos can be held accountable for falsifying evidence.