Text Messages Providing TMI for Divorce Lawyers

Divorce lawyers have found a new smoking gun to wave around in court: text messages. Infidelity, bad parenting or threats ' name the issue in marital disputes, family law attorneys say, and the evidence can be found in text messages sent over handheld gadgets. The unfaithful, in particular, are paying a high price for their salacious messages.

One New York attorney recalled when he used to hire private investigators who burst into hotel rooms to catch cheating spouses. Now, all that is necessary is to check the spouse's BlackBerry. Attorneys both rely on texts to prove marital troubles and to defend those who get busted over their careless words. For example, one attorney recently represented a woman whose suspicious husband picked up her BlackBerry while she was in the shower and discovered messages that showed that she was having an affair with a co-worker. The discovery resulted in a quick settlement. The lesson learned was that anyone going through a divorce should change his/her password.

Nobody Is Immune

Text messages also proved embarrassing for Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, whose estranged wife has alleged in court documents that Mr. Gibbons had
extramarital affairs with two women, including one to whom he allegedly sent 860 text messages on a state cell phone. Mr. Gibbons publicly apologized for sending the texts, which he claimed were business-related, and reimbursed the state $130. His divorce is not yet final.

Text messages came up in the high-profile divorce trial of multi-millionaire George David and Swedish countess Marie Douglas-David, but this time the texts were not about infidelity. Instead, the wife's lawyer accused the husband in court of sending his wife a text message on her birthday because he did “not want to speak with her.” Ms. Douglas-David wants $100 million, plus $130,000 a month in alimony, from Mr. David, who says she is entitled to just $43 million under a post-nuptial agreement.

Custody Is Also Involved

Text messages are playing into custody battles, too. Lenorae Atter of Jacksonville, FL's Wood, Atter & Wolf is handling a case in which text messages are being used to show that the children are having a hard time living with their mother. The kids, she said, are sending texts to their father about problems with their mother.

Ms. Atter also has used text messages to help women obtain restraining orders against abusive husbands who send threatening messages to their wives. She said that, while e-mails are pretty standard evidence now in family law matters, “text messages are slowly but surely coming into the fold.”

Tresa Baldas is a staff reporter for The National Law Journal, an ALM affiliate of this newsletter. She can be reached at [email protected].

Divorce lawyers have found a new smoking gun to wave around in court: text messages. Infidelity, bad parenting or threats ' name the issue in marital disputes, family law attorneys say, and the evidence can be found in text messages sent over handheld gadgets. The unfaithful, in particular, are paying a high price for their salacious messages.

One New York attorney recalled when he used to hire private investigators who burst into hotel rooms to catch cheating spouses. Now, all that is necessary is to check the spouse's BlackBerry. Attorneys both rely on texts to prove marital troubles and to defend those who get busted over their careless words. For example, one attorney recently represented a woman whose suspicious husband picked up her BlackBerry while she was in the shower and discovered messages that showed that she was having an affair with a co-worker. The discovery resulted in a quick settlement. The lesson learned was that anyone going through a divorce should change his/her password.

Nobody Is Immune

Text messages also proved embarrassing for Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, whose estranged wife has alleged in court documents that Mr. Gibbons had
extramarital affairs with two women, including one to whom he allegedly sent 860 text messages on a state cell phone. Mr. Gibbons publicly apologized for sending the texts, which he claimed were business-related, and reimbursed the state $130. His divorce is not yet final.

Text messages came up in the high-profile divorce trial of multi-millionaire George David and Swedish countess Marie Douglas-David, but this time the texts were not about infidelity. Instead, the wife's lawyer accused the husband in court of sending his wife a text message on her birthday because he did “not want to speak with her.” Ms. Douglas-David wants $100 million, plus $130,000 a month in alimony, from Mr. David, who says she is entitled to just $43 million under a post-nuptial agreement.

Custody Is Also Involved

Text messages are playing into custody battles, too. Lenorae Atter of Jacksonville, FL's Wood, Atter & Wolf is handling a case in which text messages are being used to show that the children are having a hard time living with their mother. The kids, she said, are sending texts to their father about problems with their mother.

Ms. Atter also has used text messages to help women obtain restraining orders against abusive husbands who send threatening messages to their wives. She said that, while e-mails are pretty standard evidence now in family law matters, “text messages are slowly but surely coming into the fold.”

Tresa Baldas is a staff reporter for The National Law Journal, an ALM affiliate of this newsletter. She can be reached at [email protected].