Elise Buie Family Law | Serving Divorce Papers Through Facebook

Elise Buie Family Law  |  Serving Divorce Papers Through Facebook

Being “served” with papers is something we see often in television and the movies. A process server, disguised as a pizza delivery or UPS man, rings a doorbell and asks the occupant to confirm his or her name. As soon as the unlucky occupant does so, they receive papers thrust into their hands and hear the dreaded phrase “you’ve been served.”

In addition to allowing for a funny plot line, these examples illustrate many issues with legal ‘service’. Traditionally, when one person wanted to initiate a civil matter (such as a lawsuit or a divorce) against another, this person must serve proper notice to the other party. For a long time, the only way notice was ‘proper’ was to seek this defendant out at his or her residence and hand legal papers over in person. However, as we see so often in the media, there are oftentimes issues when the other party’s address may not be known – and sometimes this is intentional, due to a motivation to avoid litigation.

However, this could be changing. Last week, a New York Court ruled that if a person’s address is unknown and there is evidence that this person is regularly checking a Facebook account, divorce papers may be served via the social media site.

In the decision, the Court wrote that:

“This reflects the great emphasis that this state places on insuring that a person who is being sued for divorce – a proceeding that can have immeasurable financial and familial consequences- be made aware of and afforded the opportunity to appear in the action.”

The decision received widespread news coverage, and many have commented on the possible implications this decision could have for future civil proceedings. However, this is not the first time that notice in a family law matter has been sent via social media. Last fall, a judge permitted a Staten Island man to send notice to his ex-wife via Facebook when he wished to modify their custody agreement.

While both of these examples came from the state of New York, these cases could illustrate a trend in how notice is provided for family law matters such as divorce and custody modification in the future across the United States. Our society is becoming increasingly more mobile, which despite the many advantages, can also have distinct disadvantages for serving process. If it is possible that technologies with widespread use (such as Facebook) could allow for a quicker start to processes such as divorce and custody modification, these processes could come to a quicker resolution, which would be a good thing (or a bad thing) for many individuals and families. 

STAY UP TO DATE

Subscribe to our newsletters

 
Subscribe to one or more of our newsletters, delivering meaningful insight on topics that matter to you and your family.
ebl home subscribe image

FURTHER READING

Latest Blog Posts

Learn from an experienced Seattle family law attorney what happens if the marital home is only in your spouse's name during divorce.

Washington family law usually encourages parents to work out differences between themselves without involving the judicial system. Child support modification is different. Informal side agreements, even written agreements, are unenforceable in family court. So, when circumstances change accordingly, as outlined…

Reducing one’s tax obligations is a significant factor in many financial decisions, including those you make as part of your estate planning. When you get far enough into the details of your estate plan, though, you may find that tax…

If you ask those who have survived domestic violence why they stayed in abusive situations as long as they did, it is often not because they did not realize that what was happening to them was abuse. People who have…

Learn from a Seattle family law attorney how to find the right collaborative divorce lawyer for your Washington state divorce.

Learn from an experienced Seattle divorce lawyer about the benefits of collaborative divorce over litigation.

A skilled and experienced Seattle family law attorney describes the differences between collaborative divorce and divorce mediation.

A Seattle estate planning attorney can help guide you about who to choose for key roles in your estate plan.

A prenuptial agreement, or a “prenup,” can help you and your future spouse decide how to handle certain financial issues in your lives before they cause conflict and hurt feelings. This is true even if you believe you would never…

A skilled and experienced Seattle family law attorney describes what happens when negotiations break down in a collaborative divorce.