Anderson & Boback Family Law Attorneys

With texting, email, and Facebook Messenger rising in popularity as methods of communication in relationships, so is their use as divorce evidence. As divorce attorneys, we used to look for evidence in files, notebooks, ledgers, memos and photo albums. Now we have to also look at emails, text messages, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and even Pinterest for what divorce evidence that is called Electronically Stored Information (ESI). Thousands of courts across the country have recognized that parties have an obligation to preserve and produce electronically stored information. When the prospect of divorce litigation is present, parties are required to preserve documents that may be relevant to the issues to be raised. Failure to do so may result in the court finding of spoliation of evidence. Spoliation of evidence is the intentional, reckless, or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, fabricating, or destroying of evidence relevant to a legal proceedin...

Chicago natives may now know that Cubs player Ben Zobrist filed for a legal separation from his wife, Julianna Zobrist, in Tennessee, citing marital misconduct. Meanwhile, Julianna Zobrist has filed for dissolution of their marriage in Cook County, Illinois. Local reports seem to indicate that Ben Zobrist filed before Julianna Zobrist, but it is unclear since the filings were so close together. Of course, the legal question in all of this is, which state has divorce jurisdiction? Divorce Jurisdiction and Illinois Residency Requirement In order to file for divorce in Illinois, you have to be a resident of the state of Illinois for ninety (90) days or more. So, clearly, by Ben Zobrist's wife filing for divorce in Illinois she is alleging that she is an Illinois resident. Tennessee, presumably, has their own residency requirement for filing separation or divorce proceedings. Exceptions to “First to File ‘Wins’ Jurisdiction” Generally speaking, the first petition filed “wins” ...