What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ
My ex-wife is posting weekly articles under a fake name -- the articles contain some horendous things about me and my current wife.
Although she uses an alias, here are my concerns:
1 - She tells everyone about these articles. The way I came to know about these articles is that a close friend of mine was in a store speaking to an acquaintance of my ex-wife. This acquaintance then started telling, in great detail, how a close friend of hers writes a weekly column in a specific paper (and gave the name of that paper) based on and ex-husband that does "xxxxxxx" and "yyyyyy" where his current wife does 'xxxxx' and 'yyyy'. These xxx and yyy's were so obvious that my close friend said 'stop right there - i know exactly who you are talking about'. She confronted her and her face turned white. If someone can talk openly about this in a store I can only imagine what else is said around town. My good friend immediately told me about this, we googled some simple key words that were said in the store and boom!! the results were there. All my dirty laundry that would devastate my children if they ever read them -- clearly visible to the world.
2 - Over the past several years, it is no secret that my ex-wife has been spewing some filthily details about our divorce to everyone she can find. This includes mutual friends, her hair dresser, old colleagues that I used to work with etc... My daughters friend was at dinner with her parents and some other friends. Some of the adults were talking about us and even my daughters friend picked up on it --- pretty sick stuff. The inlaw of those parents is one of my daughters Doctors --- everyone and everything is connected very easily.
3 - Although the articles are written as anonymous, there are pictures of my ex-wifes house, current boyfriend, boyfriends children, specific dates of our divorce, specifics about my children etc...There is no doubt that anyone reading these articles can easily connect the dots and determine that this is me and my current wife that they are speaking of.
Where do we draw the line of freedom of speech and defamation of character? While many of the items that she writes about are true there are many that are 100% fabricated. What constitutes defamation -- Of particular concern to me are the outright lies about me and my children.
The internet is a scary place. I have NO DOUBT that at some point in the future my son's friends parents will read these articles. Kids have no boundaries - "hey, I heard that your Dad is an 'xxxxx' - my Mom read it on the internet. Then what happens to my son? His entire class googles some simple keywords and the entire school knows about it. Imagine how this must feel to a 10 year old?
What can I do from a legal standpoint? My attempts to ask my ex to stop have simply results in more articles regardless of the affect this can have on my children.
My ex-wife is posting weekly articles under a fake name -- the articles contain some horendous things about me and my current wife.
Although she uses an alias, here are my concerns:
1 - She tells everyone about these articles. The way I came to know about these articles is that a close friend of mine was in a store speaking to an acquaintance of my ex-wife. This acquaintance then started telling, in great detail, how a close friend of hers writes a weekly column in a specific paper (and gave the name of that paper) based on and ex-husband that does "xxxxxxx" and "yyyyyy" where his current wife does 'xxxxx' and 'yyyy'. These xxx and yyy's were so obvious that my close friend said 'stop right there - i know exactly who you are talking about'. She confronted her and her face turned white. If someone can talk openly about this in a store I can only imagine what else is said around town. My good friend immediately told me about this, we googled some simple key words that were said in the store and boom!! the results were there. All my dirty laundry that would devastate my children if they ever read them -- clearly visible to the world.
2 - Over the past several years, it is no secret that my ex-wife has been spewing some filthily details about our divorce to everyone she can find. This includes mutual friends, her hair dresser, old colleagues that I used to work with etc... My daughters friend was at dinner with her parents and some other friends. Some of the adults were talking about us and even my daughters friend picked up on it --- pretty sick stuff. The inlaw of those parents is one of my daughters Doctors --- everyone and everything is connected very easily.
3 - Although the articles are written as anonymous, there are pictures of my ex-wifes house, current boyfriend, boyfriends children, specific dates of our divorce, specifics about my children etc...There is no doubt that anyone reading these articles can easily connect the dots and determine that this is me and my current wife that they are speaking of.
Where do we draw the line of freedom of speech and defamation of character? While many of the items that she writes about are true there are many that are 100% fabricated. What constitutes defamation -- Of particular concern to me are the outright lies about me and my children.
The internet is a scary place. I have NO DOUBT that at some point in the future my son's friends parents will read these articles. Kids have no boundaries - "hey, I heard that your Dad is an 'xxxxx' - my Mom read it on the internet. Then what happens to my son? His entire class googles some simple keywords and the entire school knows about it. Imagine how this must feel to a 10 year old?
What can I do from a legal standpoint? My attempts to ask my ex to stop have simply results in more articles regardless of the affect this can have on my children.
