Think Twice Before Posting Online About Your Divorce

Today some people post on blogs or online forums about their personal information and opinions. This information is then available for an untold number of strangers to read. A party going through a contested divorce case may be tempted to fire off a comment or blog post about his or her soon-to-be ex. However, that party should think twice before hitting the “post” button. In an interesting case from New York, Ira S. v. Janice S., the Court awarded a wife only 17% in her husband’s law firm business, and a major factor in the Judge’s decision was the Court’s finding that the wife contributed to the decline of the value of the husband’s law practice by making negative comments about her husband that ended up online. The husband argued that he was a “rainmaker” for his firm and that his duties involved bringing clients to the firm. The Court noted that he wife’s negative comments that ended up online affected his ability to bring in new clients, and decreased the value of his interest in the law business. The wife argued that the husband’s business decreased because he did not work as hard and because of the economic downturn. The Court agreed those were factors as well but noted that the wife “chose to bite the hand that fed her”. While New York law may be different from Illinois law, parties to a Chicago divorce should be careful about the potential financial consequences of sabotaging his or her spouse’s reputation. Generally, it is wise to refrain from posting things online. It would be unfortunate, and avoidable, if a party harmed his or her case by damaging a spouse’s reputation, whether online or via other means.  Source: http://newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202650165483?slreturn=20140322124200