Szabo & Associates News & Updates

Separation can be a difficult time. But many recently separated couples find comfort in social media engagement. However, social media posting could, in fact, affect not only the emotional outcome of your divorce but also the financial settlement. The legal system has finally caught up with the rapid rise of social media, and now very often social media posts, pictures and tags are being used as evidence in property negotiations and proceedings.

A legendary celebrity couple has recently announced that they are bringing their 13-year marriage to an end. It was reported here that Gwen Stefani and her husband Gavin Rossdale are divorcing following evidence that Mr Rossdale was unfaithful, having pursued a three-year affair with the couple’s Australian nanny, Mindy Mann. It was reported that Miss Stefani discovered her husband’s infidelity when she found revealing pictures and explicit messages between the pair on her child's iPad. 

More people than ever are choosing to divorce and settle family disputes outside of court according to a family law expert.

Parenting disputes are one of the particularly emotionally taxing family cases. Who is the child to live with? How to keep meaningful involvement of both parents in a child's life? What if one of the parents wants to move, whether in search of friends or family support or to start a new job?

It was recently reported in the Sydney Morning Herald (here) that there is rising controversy in India over the use of the ‘triple talaq’ by Muslim men to divorce their wives.  The ‘triple talaq’, reported as the practice of Muslim men saying the word ‘talaq’ three times which provides for an ‘automatic divorce’ has been criticised by many as being easily abused – allowing for men to divorce their wives for potentially superficial reasons.  While it has been reported that several Muslim countries have banned the practice, there is mounting concern among Muslim women in India that their husbands are too easily able to end their marriage. A government committee is reported to have recommended that the practice be banned, but confusion as to whether or not the practice is a component of Islamic law, amongst other things, has complicated matters.