Many Facebook Investigations End Up In Court

Copyright (c) 2011 Opperman Investigations Inc

Facebook has become such and integral part of our everyday day lives so much that more and more Facebook evidence is winding up in court. About 45 percent of divorce cases involve some snooping -- and gathering -- of email, Facebook and other online material. Those are generally used by the warring parties for civil reasons -- not for criminal prosecution, the Free Press reports.

Obtaining information about a Facebook account may not be as simple as you may think. Of course you can severe the Custodian of Records with a subpoena duces tecum.. However if you are in pre litigation stages you may not be able to do this. You'll have to hire an investigator to obtain this information for you.

A private investigator can uncover an incredible amount of evidence using digital forensics and Internet investigations. A simple trace of an email to online dating sites or social networks could uncover evidence of infidelity, substance abuse, *** addictions, and frequent use of escort services. This kind of digital evidence can be overwhelming in a child custody hearing. But it has to be a thorough investigation that is carefully documented from start to finish. It's not enough to just print out some Facebook pages. You have to carefully document every step and maintain a chain of custody of all evidence.

So snooping on Facebook is one thing, gathering and documenting evidence is another thing all together. For instance information gathered from a computer hard drive can be rules inadmissible and worthless in court if the proper procedures are not used to gather and document that evidence. This can actually backfire on a litigant.
For instance, the courts take allegation of *** abuse of children very seriously. but if you do not have evidence to back up your allegation the court can rule you are making false and frivolous accusations and this will affect your custody and visitation. That is just one reason why it is so important to gather evidence and document it properly.

Facebook and other online social networks are a great source of valuable information in any investigation. Whether it be a child custody, TPO violation or any other kind of litigation. But Facebook is only a very small ingredient in the information that can be obtained in a thorough meticulous investigation of all online media and computer, cell phone forensics.