“In war, the end justifies almost any means,” Winston Churchill once famously said. Espionage is one of the most critical elements of war and rivalry between nations. And since a divorce may seem like a mini-war between two spouses, does it mean that snooping or spying on your spouse can help you prevail?
“Far from it,” says Salt Lake City divorce attorneyEmy A. Cordano. “In my experience, I have seen many couples go down this path. They hack emails, hire private investigators, and even blackmail their spouses just to uncover the truth and find out about past and present affairs or whether their spouse is hiding assets.”
For many people going through a divorce, the temptation to dig out information that can compromise their spouse’s integrity can be too difficult to resist. But in the vast majority of cases, snooping or spying on your spouse while going through a divorce in Utah is not worth it. Here’s why.
Why spying on your spouse during divorce is not worth it
If you are reading this and going through a divorce, chances are you are already ferociously checking your spouse’s social media accounts every minute or two just to see some photo or post that will make you say, “Gotcha.”
From a legal perspective, snooping and spying on your spouse during a divorce can be justified only as long as you do not break any privacy laws and as long as you respect your spouse’s privacy (however difficult it maybe). For many people, snooping and spying is the only way to dig out information that was hidden from and not readily available to them and be equipped with facts for their divorce proceedings.
But can this information really help you? Needless to say, uncovering the truth is most of the time a depressing and painful experience. “If you think that snooping or spying on your spouse can help your case, think again,” says our experienced divorce attorney in Salt Lake City.
Most of the information and evidence you can uncover as part of your espionage efforts (whether you hacked our spouse’s email, broke into his or her house, hired a private investigator, or other used other methods) will be inadmissible in court. In fact, even if you happen to get evidence that is admissible in court, there is no guarantee that this information will help your case. But why?
When snooping or spying on your spouse can help your divorce case
Under Utah divorce law, proving your spouse’s infidelity is only relevant to your divorce case if your wife or husband was spending marital assets on his or her affair or lover. In addition to that, you may be able to prevail in a child custody battle against your spouse if there is evidence that your spouse was engaging in inappropriate conduct in front of your children.
“Snooping and spying on your wife or husband during a divorce is not only a waste of your time and money, but can also damage your emotional health and cause a tremendous amount of stress,” says our Salt Lake City divorce attorney. Despite this, even though many people realize that spying on their spouse will not help their divorce case, they still do it because they just want to know the truth.
This is hardly the best solution. Instead, try to move on and consider consulting with a therapist. Let our experienced divorce lawyers work on your case while you focus on your children and future life. Get a legal consultation by calling at (801) 901-8159 today.