Stephens & Stevens Marital & Family Law

Impact of Ashley Madison Hack on Florida Divorce Court

August 18, 2015

Written by:

Visit Trustify to check if an email is registered on Ashley Madison.

AshleyMadison.com the website for cheaters, fell victim to a hack and ALL of it’s data (as of July 11, 2015) has been made available via bit torrent technology.

Multiple sources have confirmed on Twitter their credit card number and personal information are within the data.

The data also includes more than 9,600,000 credit card transactions since March of 2008, This detailed information includes name, street address, amount paid and email address for each transaction.

Since Florida is a “no-fault” divorce state, the impact on this State in the Courtroom will be minimal. It will be interesting to see how the public consumes, analyzes and reports on this information over the next few weeks. Will the revelation of infidelity, or even just the thought that your spouse would register on a website like Ashley Madison, have an impact on a spouse’s decision to divorce? This question that will certainly be answered in the upcoming months.

This hack should make one thing perfect clear. Your personal information is always very vulnerable. Take necessary precautions.

And if by chance you registered an account on Ashley Madison AFTER July 11th…. you got real lucky this time!

Eddie Stephens is a partner at Ward Damon who is Board Certified in Family and Marital Law and has developed a successful family law practice focused on highly disputed divorces. If you need help with marital or family matters, you may reach Eddie at EStephens@warddamon.com or call 561-842-3000.

2 responses to “Impact of Ashley Madison Hack on Florida Divorce Court”

Jade Rouzeau

August 18, 2015 at 8:37 pm

Hey! I’m sure this has placed quite a few people in precarious situations. I wanted to get your thoughts on the following. Even though Florida is a no-fault state can the aggrieved spouse not make a claim for an unequal distribution of assets based on the monies expended on the pursuance of an extra-marital affair? Who knows how far the affair went? What about the decision of a parent to have an affair online considered as a portion of a factor for time-sharing plan? Is it impossible to think that a judge might hold this type of affair against a person for purposes of approving a time-sharing plan?

Jade

Reply
1. Eddie Stephens
  
  September 5, 2015 at 5:37 pm
  
  A spouse has the right to reimbursement for intentional waste / dissipation of assets during the breakdown of the marriage. This includes moneys spent on a paramour or in advance of an adulterous relationship or paid sex. Unless a nexus can be made to the impact on the children, it should have no legal relevance on considerations of a parenting plan. However…. judges are human.
  
  Reply