[READ: For Discussion: Is Facebook Ruining Your ‘Relationship Status’??]
Many a relationship has exploded during the age of social media and seeking out former flames on Facebook has been said to be one of the top causes of failed marriages and relationships.
[READ: Should There Be a ‘Rulebook’ on Facebook Relationship Etiquette??]
While most ‘real’ relationships should be able to survive social media, there are many unions that falter and fail with or without the pressures of online scrutiny. That being said, it’s now easier to ‘launch’ your divorces proceedings through the popular social networking site.
Apparently if your spouse can’t be found in person, Facebook may be an alternate solution to serving divorce papers.
In a landmark ruling, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper is allowing a nurse named Ellanora Baidoo to serve her elusive husband with divorce papers via a Facebook message.
Baidoo, 26, ?is granted permission serve defendant with the divorce summons using a private message through Facebook,? with her lawyer messaging Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku through her account, Cooper wrote.
?This transmittal shall be repeated by plaintiff?s attorney to defendant once a week for three consecutive weeks or until acknowledged? by her hard-to-find hubby.
?I think it?s new law, and it?s necessary,? said Baidoo?s lawyer, Andrew Spinnell.
As a result, the wedding was never consummated and the husband and wife never lived together, the lawyer said ? but Blood-Dzraku apparently still doesn?t want a divorce.?He has kept in touch with his wife by phone and Facebook… but that’s it, legal documents claim.
The ?last address plaintiff has for defendant is an apartment that he vacated in 2011,? Cooper said. Baidoo ?has spoken with defendant by telephone on occasion and he has told her that he has no fixed address and no place of employment. He has also refused to make himself available to be served with divorce papers.?
The ?post office has no forwarding address for him, there is no billing address linked to his prepaid cell phone, and the Department of Motor Vehicles has no record of him,? the ruling says.
?We tried everything, including hiring a private detective ? and nothing,? Spinnell said.
Due to the husband’s elusiveness, a judge ruled that he could be notified of the divorce proceedings via Facebook.
The first Facebook message went out to the husband last week. ?So far, he hasn?t responded,? Spinnell said.