Divorce via Facebook: NY judge opens door for legal papers to be served through social media
Social media platforms — including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn — have been a ubiquitous form of communication and networking for the past decade. In a Mar. 27 decision, a Manhattan judge took electronic communication further, allowing a woman to serve her estranged husband divorce papers via a Facebook private message.
In the case Baidoo v. Blood-Dzraku, New York Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper ordered divorce papers to be served on social media once a week for three weeks, reasoning that any other form of traditional service would be “an exercise in futility.”
The plaintiff, Ellanora Arthur Baidoo, and defendant, Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku, never lived together despite getting married in 2009. Baidoo desired to initiate a divorce proceeding against her estranged husband, but he refused to make himself available to be served the divorce papers. According to the court records, the defendant does not have a fixed address and is currently unemployed. The two do communicate via telephone and social media.