Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Dividing Digital Assets In Divorce?
An anonymous reader writes "I am a long time Slashdotter and currently find myself in the beginning of a divorce process. How have you dealt with dispersing of shared data, accounts and things online in such a situation? Domains, hosting, email, sensitive data backups and social media are just a few examples."
You shouldn't have destroyed your individuality by combining all of these things. If you hadn't, maybe you wouldn't be getting divorced.
I'm only saying this so that others may learn from your mistake.
Sig: I stole this sig.
burn it on a dvd and call it a day
How have you dealt with dispersing of shared data
If only there were a way to make multiple copies of digital information...
If yes, just tell your lawyer that number. Don't have a lawyer? Stop wasting time asking the Internet for advice and get one.
Secondarily, do they sentimental value? Most courts are willing to take that into account as well.
Shared accounts?!? I'm married, and as a principle, we have no shared accounts. All other data can be simply duplicated, as that is the nature of data. You have this problem because of sloppy identity management. Talk it over with the Ex, if that still is an option. As for domains and hosting, well, also a talking point, I'd say.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Just been through this myself. My solution was to let her keep all the photographs, videos, accounts, etc etc. So I get a clean break, and no unwanted reminders in the future of a very dark period of my life. Seriously, you should at least consider the benefits of leaving it all behind, and letting the past stay in the past.
That was the most round-about way ever of saying "My parents are throwing my 38 year old ass out of the basement."
Trolling is a art,
Can't you simply make copies?
Seriously, this is a terrible question for the /. community. You're going to get mocked, and maybe told that you shouldn't have married him/her/it if you didn't want to give him/her/it 51% of everything you own (round-up errors).
More seriously -- it's all about classifying property. Depending on state law, you may be able to retain individual ownership of some accounts / and anything business related, like a domain for a small business. Any interest you have in a company is likely to get split in half, if the company owns the digital assets then the ownership is derivative. If you have domain names you need for work, consider asking your spouse to consent to a flat evaluation at the price of registration -- create a corporation/LLC for your business identity and trasfer the assets out for good value.
Else -- SEE YOUR LAWYER.
-GiH.
I'm not really trying to sound like an ass, but if you merged your email addresses, you're on your own.
Foresight. Use it.
And don't forget the reason that divorce costs so much....because it's totally worth it.
There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
Sorry, this is flawed in a lot of ways.
In a sense there is no economic advantage between just living together as lovers and being married. One funny example used to be that the standard deductions of one Head of Household and one Single, both triggering on lower overall brackets was cheaper than the married rate on combined income, and other tricks.
Then there's the very real cost of the alimony/child care process. Guy starts out with house, guy should end up with house. But watch the number of times she gets it.
Or the kids. Woman starts out poor, woman has a kid, woman divorces two years later, woman keeps kid, woman gets payments GREATER than they would have spent together on the kid being frugal.
Plus the copyright angle of making "full backups" of database based assets is hysterical.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Some (possibly obvious) points for you to consider:
If the "digitial assets" have significant monetary value: ask your lawyer. (the "digital assets" probably have low monetary value, or you wouldn't be asking about them here.)
If the "digitial assets" have significant sentimental value: burn yourself a copy, hand them over to your future-ex, and sincerely say "Thank you for the wonderful memories."
(Just out of curiosity on my part, what kind of advice did you expect to get without actually describing the nature and value of the "digital assets"?)
Lastly, consider this: how important is it for you to win?
Divorces can be ugly. I've seen friends destroy each others sanity and inflict long-term damage on their souls in order to "win" and "be right"
Five years from now, would you rather be busy enjoying a new chapter in your life or sipping daily from a nasty glass of old & bitter resentments?
I always wanted to know how to divide future revenue (after the divorce) for IP that was started but not completed before the divorce. I had thought to just give each party a copy of the IP to finish as they see fit. The alternative is that one party finishes the work and the other party reaps the benefits. This later case seems unfair.
when my 12 yr old grows up and moves out a lot of the games, but not all, were bought more for his benefit. I don't mind getting logged out occasionally now since he'll generally ask since he's in the house anyway. But when he moves out and 1/2 way across the country, potentially, co-ordinating the use of a single account will be a pain. I'll probably have to create a 2nd account for my exclusive use, since most of the money is tied up in his games...
Domains - the name listed in whois is the owner of record.
Hosting - the name listed on the account. The other party should get their own hosting account (any pre-paid hosting should be pro-rated at 50% to the other party).
email -for each PAID email account, the name listed on the account is the owner. For freemail accounts, you don't "own" them anyway, so each of you just get a new account already - it's not like it costs anything - then set the auto-responder in the freemail account to give both your new email addresses, then give the account login info to someone in trust who will change the secondary contact info and login to something random. Or give it to the kids (if any).
data - you each own your own data, as per copyright. Whoever created the original data, they own the rights to the backups as well. Be nice - share anything that the other person is in, such as pictures, since they also have a right to those. Exceptions: "intimate" pictures - give them to the person who is in the picture and destroy any other copies - don't you even think of "sharing" those without permission, and you'll end up with a police record, same as Libby [last name redacted]'s ex boyfriend did when he "shared them" with her parents, grandparents, etc.
social media - why is this a problem? Social media accounts are not "property" and you do not "own" them, as per your contract with whatever provider you're using. If this is about a "family" account, each of you create an account under your own name, post a note on the family account pointing to the new accounts, then as part of the agreement the family account is either nuked, or given to a 3rd party in trust who changes the contact information and password, then deactivates it.
It's a divorce - the two biggest words are move on. None of the stuff listed above is worth fighting over 99.999% of the time.
You get all the 1's - she gets all the 0's
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
If you can copy it (CDs, MP3s, data on cloud storage), each person gets a copy.
If it's locked down with DRM (iTunes) assign a value and divvy up along with physical assets.
If it's a photo from your time together, put it in an archive directory called "/poisoned" and never open that directory again.
Most email accts and social media are per individual, but if not, just let it go and start fresh.
If it's critical to your future (the domain for your business), cover it in the divorce decree.
Guy starts out with house, guy should end up with house. But watch the number of times she gets it.
Even if she gives up a career to raise the guy's children? If there is a specialization of roles in a contractual relationship, then one side may have an advantage if the contract is severed. This is why people sue for breach of contract. Well, marriage is also a contract.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
It depends on whether there was a marriage contract or not, and also when the assets (for example, the domain names) were acquired, as well as their purpose.
Domains that were acquired as a hobby and have no pecuniary value go with the person who is listed on the whois, unless that person was listed just for conveniences' sake - then they should go to the real owner.
Domains that have a financial value that were acquired before the marriage generally stay with the person who brought them into the marriage, same as other assets generally (YMMV, of course, depending on local laws, etc).
Domains that are worth $$$ that were acquired during the marriage in the course of business stay with the business. So, it's all about how each party is compensated for their contribution to the business. Does one party buy the other out, or just get a share of the business itself if it's a multi-million-buck operation (not likely)?
WARNING: Many places have special laws concerning copyrights staying with the original author even if the material was created during a marriage (it does not become part of the "partnership" assets)! The question rarely came up in previous decades, so most divorce lawyers are totally clueless about this.
However, I was the computer user in my first marriage, now I'm married to a 'Net-savvy woman.
We still have have our own email, iTunes, and various web accounts. However, we are starting to share online backups, etc.
As others have said:
1. Contact an attorney
2. Don't delete anything
3. Make backups of stuff you care about in case the other person doesn't follow rule #2.
Suggestions:
1. Bank accounts and other related items with actual assets - these will be divided according to your divorce agreement.
2. Non-shared personal accounts (e.g. email, Amazon, slashdot) should remain personal accounts.
3. Shared email accounts - the divorce agreement should indicate that these are to be deleted (unless it's part of a business).
4. Online backups - don't delete them, but at least disable backing up of their stuff, as it may contain private attorney-client communication - and don't look at it! I would propose that the person who originally signed up and paid for the account remain the owner, and give the other party a copy of common and shared data before removing the other party's data at an agreed time.
5. iTunes accounts - if they are associated with an individual's email, then these should remain with the individual. If it's a shared account, then it will have to assigned based on the divorce agreement. It may be that nobody gets any of it, and that it's all deleted.
6. Social Media - you will probably want to drop or remove the other party from your social media sites. At the very least, "banish" them (and any of their close friends) to a group that minimizes what they can see. These really shouldn't be shared accounts, and should belong to an individual. If you share a twitter account, I suggest deleting it unless it's used as part of a business (in which case it has value, and thus needs to be divided according to the divorce agreement).
7. Domains - these are usually individual, or business related. Something truly shared (e.g. smithfamily.com) should go with whoever bought it or offered to the other party if they intend to keep that name (e.g. Smith in this case). I know it sounds weird.
Virtually everything that is really important to you should be spelled out in the divorce agreement. Minor division of assets can be negotiated outside of that (e.g. she took the physical photos, I kept all the negatives).
In most western jurisdictions e.g. UK and US, all assets aquired during a marriage are jointly held, unless there is some form of agreement stating otherwise.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
What are you talking about? So according to you the father should think of the kid as "his"? And yes, plenty of mothers give up careers to nurture their children in their early years. This is perfectly human. The hostility with which you address is quite bizarre. And yes, he does put the roof over their heads. But he also gets to develop in his career. While a mother staying at home does not. Her skills begin to dull and she doesn't progress as far as she would if she were to stay in the work force (hint: more experience = more pay). That's a specialization of roles. Are you really so dense as to suggest that there is no advantage to specialization of roles in any human association? Well, specialization gives greater combined benefit, but when the association is broken, those who took on the role which wouldn't pay end up at a disadvantage. It doesn't have to be the mother, but it usually is. While no one may be forcing her to give up the career, it is generally a mutual decision. Marriage is not to strangers hanging out. It's two people building a household.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
weren't you paying attention, divorce means they were married
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
depends on the situation. they're his if it benefits her in some way. if it benefits her for them to not be his, then they're not.