Divorce Evidence: Smart Phones Increasingly Used As Source (VIDEO)

Forget hiring a private investigator for your divorce case -- the best piece of evidence may be sitting in your pocket.

According to a study by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), 92 percent of lawyers surveyed said smart phones are increasingly being used for evidence in divorce cases; 94 percent said they've seen an increase in the use of text messages specifically.

"As smart phones and text messaging become main sources of communication during the course of each day, there will inevitably be more and more evidence that an estranged spouse can collect," AAML president Ken Altshuler said in a statement. "Text messages can be particularly powerful forms of evidence during a divorce case, because they are written records of someone’s thoughts, actions and intentions."

A similar AAML survey from 2010 found that activity on social media sites like Facebook is also overwhelmingly being used as evidence in divorce proceedings. Eighty-one percent of lawyers surveyed in February 2010 said that social media sites are playing a more prominent role in divorce court.

Watch the video above to learn more about the survey.

Comments

[rsttho557949]

12:46 PM on 02/12/2012

Paper trail, fellas. Its just in a different form. Use smoke signals to contact each other. Avoid the papaer trial.

[nickajk]

12:33 PM on 02/12/2012

duh people will always be unfaithful it is sad but watch tv and movies all the kids today dont know anything different thanks hollywood for dumbing down people with your crappy tv and movies and especially MTV somebody should blow up that crap they call a network

[WSAY]

03:57 PM on 02/11/2012

Why do you need "proof?" The law has been changed so you can get out anytime you like. Or are you just angry?

[TKDietz]

02:48 PM on 02/12/2012

That was my first thought. But I know that in some states fault can matter in alimony and maybe even property divosion. I suppose proving an affair or bolstering a case that a spouse is a party animal or up to no good in some other way might be useful in a child custody case. And, you have states like mine where we don't have "no fault" divorce. We only have that when there's been 18 months separation without cohabitation. Most people use "general indigities" grounds and the courts don't require much proof, but you do get those contested cases where the other party counterclaims and it devloves into this thing where the party with the least egregious conduct gets the divorce. It won't affect property division, but could affect alimony in that rare case where it's awarded in my state, even though technically the judge isn't supposed to consider the fault of the parties in an alimony award.

[Edogg62]

11:24 AM on 02/11/2012

I don't get ANY of it really... what are you hoping to find out that you didn't really already know exactly? You want PROOF they weren't in love with you anymore by virtue of finding text messages to some lover CONFIRMING what you SHOULD'VE already known? The root of it all is vengeance and greed... if you're not in love anymore and just not happy? Move on. No need to do ANY of this nonsense. And from someone with some experience in this matter, don't use lawyers. Mediation is the way to go provided both of you can be mature enough to just accept reality and move on.

Stop wasting your time and energy folks...

[MomtoTwo64]

01:56 PM on 02/11/2012

I totally agree. Before you get to the point of divorce, you already know that the other person is gone. Don't waste your time trying to find evidence. Be done and figure out the part you played in the situation and work on being the best you possible. And your part does not include lack of sex, weight gain, or any other superficial reason. Lots of people get married for the wrong reasons, thinking it's love. They get caught up in the wedding day and don't think about what's going to happen after the honeymoon.

[TKDietz]

03:07 PM on 02/12/2012

"Before you get to the point of divorce, you already know that the other person is gone."

That's not always true. In a significant percentage of cases one party is surprised by the divorce.

I didn't see my divorce coming. We weren't fighting or anything. Things weren't great, but it seemed like just normal stresses of life to me and we were pretty good to each other and were doing okay, I thought. Then one day she told me she wanted a divorce. I begged her to get counseling with me and give us another chance. She was acting so strange. I asked if there was another man. She swore to God there was not, and told me she was going to try her hardest to turn things around with me. Then it became impossible to ignore suspicious things she was doing and I did some snooping and found out she was lying and there had been another man for over a year. She was just leading me on, probably because she knew I was coming into a big chunk of money in a few months.

I couldn't just walk away. I loved her with all my heart and wanted to grow old with her. We had kids in the home and had been together nearly 20 years. I snooped because I had to know. Worst thing about snooping was that I saw way more than I needed to see. It made a devastating experience a lot more painful.

[cdchicago]

11:58 PM on 02/10/2012

I agree. While geing accused of not caring, of loving the work more than the wife, of hiding in the office and running away to client sites my phone simply would not stop ringing. Gps records show me in the office eighteen hours a day. Or sneaking to the latte mill. Guilty as charged. Text? Yeah. Links to red books and pdfs. Honey I can explain...

[aalondawson]

06:15 PM on 02/10/2012

All this time I thought ire was the gays fault!?

[AbstractionAction]

10:22 PM on 02/10/2012

Nah, they've just driven down the value of marriage, causing all these 'undesireables' to move in.