New Jersey investors know that the recent bustle around Facebook concerns its highly-anticipated initial public offering and the subsequent disappointment that followed when expected gains failed to materialize. But for divorcing couples, Facebook and other social media websites hold an altogether different importance.

According to a number of attorneys, social media websites are playing an increasing role in divorce cases. The sites often contain a largely unfiltered collection of information about a person’s life, which can readily be used in determining vital issues in a divorce such as child custody and spousal support. Evidence of a spouse’s personal behavior or spending habits can have an important effect on those issues.

While Facebook users can limit the number of people who have access to their profiles, they may fail to grasp just how public a forum Facebook and similar social media websites can be. Short tweets, brief wall posts and uploaded pictures can all carry evidentiary value that would seem out of proportion to their length or their perceived importance at the time they were created. But some spouse’s lawyers have asked for and obtained–under a court’s order–the Facebook password of the other spouse. Information gathered from a search of the person’s activity on the website can be brought out in a divorce proceeding.

In addition, lawyers say that social media websites are not only being used more in divorce cases, but they are in fact the cause of an increasing number of marital dissolutions. The facility and speed with which social media allow people to connect can act as a catalyst for affairs, say the authors of a book on the subject.

Source: SmartMoney, “Does Facebook Wreck Marriages?” Quentin Fottrell, May 21, 2012.