PARIS — Unfaithful spouses in France beware: Passionate text messages sent to mistresses and lovers can now be used as evidence against you in a divorce.
Experts say the recent ruling by France’s Supreme Court to accept phone exchanges as legitimate proof of adultery will make it easier for the French to get divorced. Previously, French husbands and wives often had to wait for years to escape a marriage if they could not prove that their spouse was misbehaving or mistreating them.
The June ruling by the country’s highest court went largely unnoticed until it was reported by the French media last week.
Text messages have long been accepted as official proof in murder and other criminal trials in France, and the new decision extends such practice into family law. E-mails are also accepted as evidence in trials.
Getting a divorce can be a lengthy and painful procedure in France. If the spouses fail to agree to separate by mutual consent, those filing for divorce must prove that the spouse was cheating or abusing or mistreating them.
If the judge is not convinced, a divorce will be pronounced only after 2 years of living separately. Up until 2004, French law required couples to wait as long as 6 years.
Over 273,000 marriages and nearly 135,00 divorces were registered in France in 2007, according to government data — meaning that half of all marriages were likely to end in divorce.
Lawyers hailed the high court’s latest ruling.
“It’s a very good decision,” said Paris divorce attorney Laurence Mayer. “It facilitates … collecting evidence.”
“I tell my clients: If they receive text messages with insults, threats, various things … go and register that” with justice authorities, she said.
The June decision overturned a 2007 ruling by a Lyon court, which had declared that using phone exchanges in court was a breach of privacy, according to the Supreme Court Web site.
Infidelity and other faults committed by spouses, however, do not affect child custody or asset division issues, Mayer said.
Justice officials say the ruling might prompt some unfaithful spouses to eliminate the evidence by quickly erasing those frivolous cell phone messages.
“If you leave the message in the phone in your pocket, there is a risk that your spouse will find it,” said Guillaume Didier, spokesman for the Justice Ministry. “Maybe people will now be more prudent when it comes to keeping their messages.”
Didier said it was unclear whether courts could force spouses to retrieve deleted phone messages with the help of mobile phone operators.
Wireless phone operator Orange said it was technically possible to retrieve a deleted phone message for up to 10 days after it was sent, but a court order was necessary to compel the company to release such messages without the client’s consent.
Some felt the French would quickly adapt to the new law.
“The public knows enough about how technology works to know better than to send SMS like that,” said Aurore Belkacemi, a 51-year-old restaurant owner in Paris.
In neighboring Germany, couples are granted a divorce after one year of living separately and don’t need to prove a spouse’s guilt, making phone messages irrelevant in divorce trials.
In the United States, phone text messages are accepted in most states as evidence in trials if they are proven to be authentic.
Christopher Yannon, a divorce attorney working in New York and New Jersey, said most U.S. states also have a “no-fault” divorce system where spouses don’t need to prove their partners’ fault to get divorced. In most cases, adultery does not influence asset division and child custody issues, he added.
French attitudes regarding divorce had been changing even before the SMS ruling.
“Before, people used to stay together because it was convenient, now they get separated like it’s nothing,” said Mayer, the French divorce lawyer. “People no longer want to stay and be annoyed by a spouse they cannot stand.”
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