The explosion of social media over the last decade has changed almost every aspect of our lives and communities. There is no need to wait for high school reunions to find out what your teenage crush is up to these days. Who needs to think of new ideas for birthday parties or kitchen remodeling, or dinner recipes when such details are being swapped online all the time? Of more global importance, presidential campaigns are reaching millions online, students across the world are gathering for revolutions, and criminals and terrorists are finding it both easier to communicate and more difficult to hide.
Even something as intimate and complex as the relationship between two family members can be altered by the typing of a few characters on a computer screen. Perhaps you’ve read the recent story of the “Burger King baby,” a young woman named Katheryn Deprill who was abandoned hours after her birth on a Burger King bathroom floor twenty-seven years ago. She took to Facebook at the beginning of this month in hopes of finding her birth mother, and just three weeks later, after tens of thousands of “shares,” the two were reunited.
Deprill learned the painful reasons that her mother felt the need to leave her at that Burger King and has forgiven her. The two are looking forward to building a relationship.
When new family members are discovered, and the nature of relationships is questioned, there may be times in which legal assistance is required. What rights for child support does a mother have after tracking down the father of her ten-year-old child? How can you trust the claims of someone who reaches out through Facebook and states you are related? From another angle of social media, what protection do you have if a spouse or partner is making threats against you online?
If the world of social media has created a difficult family situation for you that you aren’t sure how to handle, the family law attorneys at Bertolino LLP can help. Please call us today and let us know what you are facing. We will work tirelessly on your behalf.
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