allaboutwomen

Facebook is being cited in more and more divorce cases. Husbands and wives are getting into trouble for meeting and flirting with members of the opposite sex or getting back in touch with old flames and rekindling the passion.

Some family solicitors say that nowadays virtually every divorce case they deal with involved extra-marital relationships via Facebook.

One lawyer told the Telegraph that of the 30 cases she has seen in the last nine months, every single one had had Facebook cited as one of the causes of the breakdown. Another online law firm claimed that 20% of its divorce petitions in the past 12 months cited Facebook as a factor in the end of the relationship.

And it is not just the guilty spouse using Facebook – aggrieved spouses are also using it to snoop on their partners' behaviour to uncover evidence of an affair.

Emma Patel, the head of family law at Hart Scales & Hodges Solicitors, said the site was now a "virtual third party" in marriage breakdown. "Facebook is being blamed for an increasing number of marital breakdowns, and it is quite remarkable that all the petitions that I have seen here since May have cited Facebook one way or another," she said.

"Its huge popularity as well as the lure of sites like Second Life, Illicit Encounters and Friends Reunited are tempting couples to cheat on each other. Suspicious spouses have used these to spy and find evidence of flirting and even affairs, which have then led to break-ups."

Flirty message posted on Facebook wall, or "inappropriate suggestive chats" are the biggest cause of the problems, she said.

She added that anyone going through a divorce should stay away from their Facebook accounts because anything they do could be used in evidence against them in a case – especially if the new lover pops up. She said: "They feel compelled to share their feelings online, and, in some cases, they not only express their stress, but also make inflammatory accusations against their partner.

"Divorce is a highly-charged and emotional time, but it is vital not to turn the situation into a public slagging match, played out for everyone to see online. The situation has deteriorated so badly that we advise feuding couples to avoid these sites until their divorces are settled."

She added that one divorcing couple's rows on Facebook became so heated that one of them was charged with malicious communication.