New Jersey divorce lawyers have seen a rise in Facebook use in divorce cases, child custody disputes and other family law matters. However, in a first-of-its-kind ruling, a man has been ordered to apologize on the social networking site for comments about his ex-wife.
When Mark Byron posted on his Facebook wall about ongoing child visitation matters with his ex-wife, he likely never realized that his domestic dispute would land on the pages of newspapers around the country and provide more evidence to New Jersey divorce lawyers of the courts’ evolving view of social networking sites in marital disputes. Last year, a magistrate found Byron guilty of civil domestic violence against his wife, and granted her a temporary protection order. Soon after, Byron posted on his Facebook wall about ‘evil, vindictive women’ who told judges they were afraid of their husbands in order to take their children away from their fathers. Byron's complaints about child visitation issues were spotted by his wife who claimed that his comments violated the protection order. The magistrate ordered Byron to apologize to his ex-wife on his Facebook wall every day for 30 days or serve 60 days of jail time.
Byron took the less tedious way out, and has been apologizing for the comments on his wall ever since.
The New Jersey family lawyers at Helmer Paul Conley and Kasselman represent clients in divorce, child custody, child support and other family law-related matters across New Jersey.
