Service by Facebook
A court in New York has permitted a wife to have her husband served by Facebook in a divorce case. The wife had tried unsuccessfully to locate her husband, but did not know where he lived or worked. Consequently, he could not be served by personal service, substitute service (giving the petition to an adult at his residence or workplace), or by the method known as “nail and mail” (affixing the summons to the door of his residence or workplace or mailing the summons to his residence or workplace).
To fit the specific facts of this situation, the New York court allowed service on his Facebook page. Although service by publication could have been used, the court believed that it was more likely for the husband to actually see the summons on his Facebook page rather than read the notice of the divorce action in a legal newspaper. The wife had to show the court by affidavit that her husband was the owner of the Facebook page and that he logged onto his page regularly. The opinion is very interesting. Of course, we cannot serve by Facebook in Missouri. Yet.