When Your Spouse Impersonates You Online During Divorce

 Posted on June 25, 2019 in Divorce

A bitter divorce can cause spouses to be angry and vindictive towards each other. Some spouses try to hurt each other in ways that range from petty to criminal acts. A common way to embarrass a spouse is to have the divorce notice served to them at their work, which is not illegal but still humiliating. A spouse may violate the law by posting “revenge porn” on the internet, which is a class 4 felony. From a legal perspective, online impersonation falls somewhere between the previous examples. Your spouse may not always be breaking the law by impersonating you, but catching your spouse in the act will hurt them during your divorce.

Online Impersonation

Illinois is not one of the few states that have created criminal laws that specifically prohibit online impersonation. Illinois has laws against identity theft, which is a form of impersonation that is used to steal assets or defraud others. Cases of online impersonation during a divorce often involve:

• Someone claiming to be their spouse through a website or social media account in order to ruin that spouse’s reputation; or
• Someone impersonating another person in order to contact their spouse and obtain private information.

Your spouse may have committed a crime if they used your identity to steal your assets or impersonated someone else in order to harass you. Defamation of character is a civil offense but is protected from criminal charges by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. A court can order your spouse to take down untruthful information, and you can file a lawsuit against your former spouse to seek compensation. A divorce court may also punish your spouse for their unethical actions.

Protecting Yourself

Even if you can take civil action against your spouse, it may be too late to save yourself from the embarrassment that they have caused you. When starting a divorce, you should take precautionary steps to protect your online identity from your spouse:

• Change the passwords to your personal accounts so your spouse cannot access them;
• Freeze your social media accounts while your divorce is ongoing; and
• Tell your closest friends that you are not posting on social media and ask them to tell you if they see someone posting as you.

Contact a Kane County Divorce Attorney

If your spouse acts petty and spiteful, your best response is to remain focused on your divorce and not give them the satisfaction of seeing you upset. A St. Charles, Illinois, divorce lawyer at Goostree Law Group can help you set the expectation of a respectful divorce negotiation. Schedule a free consultation by calling 630-584-4800.

Source:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=072000050HArt%2E+16%2C+Subdiv%2E+15&ActID=1876&ChapterID=53&SeqStart=40100000&SeqEnd=41000000