Massachusetts Divorce Law Monitor : Boston, MA Divorce & Family Law Lawyer & Attorney : Nancy Van Tine : Burns & Levinson Law Firm

Hi there,

Social security law makes provisions for divorced spouses by allowing them to collect a portion of their former mate's social security benefits, provided they have been married more than ten years. This is terrific for both parties as it does not deduct the amount paid to the former spouse from the larger wage earner's payment.  In effect, a divorced couple jointly receives more than the same couple would, were they still married.

I became aware through Daniel Clement's New York Divorce blog (a super resource) of some very tragic circumstances which have caused some folks to divorce and then live together in order to maximize their benefits.

Now, call me cynical, but I bet this happens occasionally for not so tragic reasons as well.

Best,

Nancy

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Hi There,

I write a blog, my daughter is going to show me how Facebook works and I have a bunch of friends who tweet on twitter. This is really an Internet universe - or as some call it, a 'blogosphere' or 'twitterverse'.  And in the Internet universe there may be fewer than six degrees of separation.  There is a tendency to think that one's personal communications on the Internet are private, but as this Time article shows, they are not.

If you are in a divorce or contemplating one, be careful of what you say on Facebook or on any of the other social media sites.  There is no advantage to chatting about your divorce and how awful the other side is in public and there is a real risk that they may see what you have written.  This may hurt your case, give ammunition to the other side, and could clue them in to what your strategy is.

You would think this would go without saying, but do not show up on a dating site until AFTER you have separated.  Dating sites are not private.  Divorce attorneys are very aware of the pitfalls of our very open Internet world.  If we have reason to think we might find something we will search the Internet.  

Best,
Nancy

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