Divorce can be messy, especially when one spouse goes AWOL before any papers can be officially served. However, handing out those divorce papers may have just gotten a lot easier with the help of a landmark ruling that is allowing one woman to serve her husband divorce papers over Facebook.

Cold blooded! RT “@ChrisWragge: Using @Facebook to serve DIVORCE papers? #ouch #unfriended pic.twitter.com/TMEvOJgDKU”

— Vanessa Borge (@VanessaBorge) April 6, 2015

According to the New York Daily News, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper is allowing a nurse named Ellanora Baidoo to serve her elusive husband, Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku, with divorce papers via a Facebook message sent by her lawyer. Judge Cooper wrote:

[Baidoo] is granted permission serve defendant with the divorce summons using a private message through Facebook. This transmittal shall be repeated by plaintiff’s attorney to defendant once a week for three consecutive weeks or until acknowledged.

The ruling indicates that Baidoo resorted to using the social networking site after her husband suddenly became unable to be reached except by phone and Facebook. Judge Cooper stated:

The last address plaintiff has for defendant is an apartment that he vacated in 2011. Baidoo has spoken with defendant by telephone on occasion and he has told her that he has no fixed address and no place of employment. He has also refused to make himself available to be served with divorce papers…The post office has no forwarding address for him, there is no billing address linked to his prepaid cell phone, and the Department of Motor Vehicles has no record of him.

It’s behavior like Blood-Dzraku’s that have led popular television shows to depict the act of getting “served” as a complicated process involving individuals posing as some type of delivery person or messenger in order to avoid detection. This art of deception may have something to do with the archaic rule under which the legal system has required the majority of individuals to receive legal summons by personal service.

Last year a judge in New York made a ground-breaking ruling that papers could be served via Facebook. This case opened the door for plaintiffs like Baidoo, who are struggling to locate the defendant they wish to serve, to use the social networking site as a legal distribution tool. In a world where grocery shopping, bill paying and even dating can all be done online, it makes sense to add serving legal papers to the list. This new medium might become a face-saving tool for scorned lovers everywhere.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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