How Technology Has Changed Family Law

Family law has been reshaped by technology over the past thirty years. Before computers, a family law case was very time consuming due to the amount of paperwork (and filing) and the hours need to collect credible evidence. Today, most family law cases take half the time as those before the digital age. Lawyers have many digital tools at their disposal to efficiently manage cases, file documents and track physical and digital evidence. Here are just some of the ways technological advances have made family law easier for law professionals and families.

As with many industries, technology has made completing tasks faster and with greater organization. What was once a traditional paper filing system has now transformed into digital files stored on a device (e.g a tablet). This ensures that paperwork will not easily get lost or destroyed. With the advent of computers, many lawyers stored files on hard drives and/or floppy disks as a “back-up” filing system. Yet, even this changed. Since the creation of the cloud, lawyers have stored files in a virtual filing cabinet. There is no need to use only one computer to access files. A person can access a file on any device, even a smartphone, which is convenient when meeting a client off-site.

Another way technology has improved family law is through communication. Prior to texting and emails, clients communicated with their lawyers via telephone and mail. It was hard to collect evidence; telephone records only gave a phone number and a timestamp. Emails were better for providing evidence, but they could be deleted. With text messages, they can easily be retrieved and lawyers use them as evidence. A client could also collect text evidence from a spouse’s smartphone. Chatbots are being utilized to field questions from prospective clients and well as platforms to receive payment. When it comes to contracts, lawyers are using smart contracts in lieu of traditional ones for better security and transparency.

Technology has also made locating a person much easier, especially for police. This is sometimes necessary when a spouse has taken a child without consent or a child has not been returned at the scheduled time while child custody is being set up (or established). Police can use the Amber Alert system to broadcast a missing child via a cell phone notification and/or electronic billboards. They also can track credit and debit card usage and “ping” a cell phone for a location.

Family law has benefited from the numerous advances in technology. Cases are processed faster and with less strain on families. It will be interesting to see what technological advances will emerge in the next decade.

Originally published at theresakellington.com on December 9, 2019.