Is Your Facebook Page Community Property?

Is Your Facebook Page Community Property?

In a recent Texas bankruptcy case, a Texas Bankruptcy Court found that business social media accounts are property interests. The court ordered the former owner to turn over his social media account passwords to the reorganized debtor. The important distinction was that the social media accounts were “business” accounts.

What about personal social media accounts acquired during marriage? Are they also property interests? If so, are they community property? These are complicated questions that have not been addressed by a court.

According to Nevada statute, community property is all property acquired after marriage by either spouse or both spouses. Methods to exclude property from this rule include a written agreement between the spouses, a decree of separate maintenance, or gift. Additionally, any property acquired by either spouse by gift, bequest, devise, descent or by an award for personal injury damages, with the rents, issues and profits thereof, is excluded as separate property.

This raises the question, what constitutes “property?” Pursuant to Nevada law, “property” is defined in many different ways depending on the area of law. For example, a Nevada statute that applies to Technological Crimes states that “[p]roperty includes…personal property, whether tangible or intangible [emphasis added]…” Moreover, under Nevada theft statutes, “’[i]ntangible property’ means property that lacks a physical existence yet possesses value, including, without limitation, customer lists, trade secrets, copyrighted material or other confidential information.”

Social media accounts are intangible property under Nevada law because they lack a physical existence yet they possess value. A person cannot hold a social media account in his/her hand, but the social media account does have value to that person. Further, social media accounts often contain confidential information. Once social media accounts are classified as intangible property, it becomes easier to see how they should be classified as “property” and therefore “community property” if acquired during marriage.

So how does a court divide social media accounts as community property upon divorce? Is there a right to privacy between spouses? Should the social media accounts be treated similar to bank accounts, where each spouse keeps the account in his/her name? Or should they be treated like an address book that keeps track of all of a person’s friends? Is there a dollar value that should be paid to the spouse who does not keep the account? These are all issues that will likely be decided by courts as technology continues to advance and people continue to fight over even the smallest things in a divorce.