On wedding day, we say “’till death do us part” – but over the course of your marriage there can be extenuating circumstances. Your marriage may ebb and flow, and in some cases it may end. Divorce is an emotional time, a period where you will reflect on your life and eventually move on to greater things.
However, divorce can cause much anger, especially when your former spouse takes vindictive or illegal action in an effort to hurt your divorce case. One such action is seeing a rise in popularity and it is causing many headaches in the realm of divorce law.
Some are calling it “cyber-snooping,” but what it boils down to is spying or wiretapping. There is software available that allows your ex-wife or ex-husband to intercept your sent emails. The information contained in those emails could potentially be used against you during divorce proceedings, or the email may reveal any infidelities or assets that your spouse did not know about.
So in this ever-expanding digital era, how do you protect yourself from this sort of electronic espionage? One attorney quoted in the article has a simple take on the issue. “I have a letter I send to every client after their divorce is over saying change all your passwords,” she said. “If you don’t change your passwords, you left them the key to the house.”
Ultimately, if your former spouse were to get a hold of your personal information or hack your email account, the evidence may not be admitted on the grounds that it was illegally obtained. Though that sounds like a straightforward argument, consult an attorney who can file the proper motions to block the entry of such evidence.
Source: USA Today, “Cyber-snoops often cross legal line in divorce wars,” Brian Haas, Feb. 23, 2012
