Before they get together or get married, many people meet on online dating websites or over conversations on social media. Facebook and similar sites have started or rekindled many relationships over the past few years. Facebook has also contributed to an increasing number of the divorces recently filed in Washington and across the nation. In fact, now nearly a third of all divorce filings list Facebook in official documents filed with the court.
The reasons that Facebook has led to this increase may be numerous. They include reconnecting with old boyfriends or girlfriends, writing inappropriate things on another person's wall or the tattling on a person to a spouse by Facebook friends. There are as many reasons that the website can end a relationship as there are how it can begin one.
Facebook has not only been the subject of a growing number of divorce cases, it is also now being used in child custody and other family law related matters. A Facebook posting can be admitted into evidence to show the parenting style of a person when it is relevant. It can also be used to assert that a person lives a lifestyle that isn't conducive to having child custody or runs counter to the representations they have made in court.
When people in Washington file for divorce, the underlying reasons are numerous. During the recent recession, divorce was common for those who had lost jobs or homes to foreclosure. The pressure of financial difficulty can make remaining married a challenge. When you add the economic pressure to activities on a social media website, the result may be more than a marriage can handle.