Can Reading a Spouse’s Email Lead to Tennessee Divorce?

In America and most of the developed world, email is ubiquitous. We send them. We read them. And we sometimes write things (or send pictures) that are worthy of regret later on. But if you have permission to do so, can reading your spouse’s email lead to divorce in Tennessee?

“I’ve got nothing to hide!”

Can reading a spouse’s email lead to divorce in Tennessee?

Before going any further, be aware that reading another’s email without consent could result in felony charges. No clandestine divorce strategy involving email spying is worth felony prosecution.

Those famous last words – “I’ve got nothing to hide!” – do not give the espousing spouse consent to read the other’s private email messages:  sent, received, or forwarded. Doing so is likely to be a breach of privacy and may violate Tennessee law and federal law.

Hacking into your spouse’s email may be a felony crime under the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act of 1986, the Tennessee Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act, or both. If divorce is on the horizon or your case is already pending, take extra measures to avoid the appearance of spying on your spouse. Change your passwords. Do not access your spouse’s account even if you have that password. If you are unsure as to what you can and cannot do, or if you suspect the other party has hacked into your email account, communicate those concerns to your Tennessee divorce attorney immediately.

Is Reading a Spouse’s Email a Breach of Trust?

Assuming consent has been given to read a spouse’s email, the question posed has more to do with whether it is proper, moral, ethical, or reasonable to read those electronic messages. Some may argue that any such activity is a breach of trust, and that any such violation of trust weakens the marriage.

Say, for example, that the spouses have separate Yahoo! email accounts, but they have exchanged usernames and passwords should either need to retrieve or handle messages for the other. There are no secrets in this marriage and passwords are willingly shared.

During a turbulent time in their relationship, however, she starts combing through his new and old email messages in search of some pattern or clue that he may be cheating on her. An innocuous message from an old friend quickly becomes code for “torrid affair with high school flame.”

She confronts her husband, who takes offense. Their relationship deteriorates further, because now he has proof that she does not trust him. He wonders, “Can I trust her?”

Looking To Catch a Cheating Spouse?

Watch this YouTube video interview with divorce attorney Miles Mason, Sr., and read about:

Cheating Spouses | Memphis TN Divorce Lawyer Miles Mason

Is Reading a Spouse’s Email Just Part of Being a Modern Couple?

At least one well-known couple claims sharing an email address has helped their marriage. Australian actress Kate Blanchett has been married to Andrew Upton since 1997. She says she “does trust her husband” and that sharing an email account helps them synchronize their busy schedules. They are raising three children and frequently travel on business. For Blanchett, checking his email messages is just part of what needs to be done to keep the family unit operating as a “well-oiled machine.”

What Do You Think?

Can anything good come from reading a spouse’s email messages? Does it matter that she knows her husband is scanning her email messages? Should it make a difference that she was known to have had an extramarital affair in the past? Could reading a spouse’s email lead to divorce? Have you heard of such a thing happening?

Memphis, Tennessee, Divorce Attorney

Memphis divorce attorney, Miles Mason, Sr., practices family law exclusively and is founder of the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC. Check out The Tennessee Divorce Client’s Handbook: What Every Divorcing Spouse Needs to Know, available on Amazon and Kindle.