Friend's soon to be ex is claiming naked pics as his property

[KBob]

Googling this a bit more, have they filed a legal separation agreement? If not and they live in a state or country that requires this, the ex would be SOL if she destroys it.

 

This is why we should not be giving her legal advice. People here are not lawyers. Go talk to a lawyer.

[sandylee1]

I would have burnt the book already. End of story. No pics for him to do anything with.

[startinganew777]

I talked to her more about this. She doesn't want to destroy the book for some reason so that is out.

 

 

Thing is, she said her soon to be ex, (still married, not legally separated) has way more risqué pictures of her on his computer, and even a video. So I think this all is just about control for him. And he wants to make things as hard as possible for her. She said there are even pictures of sleeping naked that he took and she is thinking about using that against him. Taking pics of her without her knowledge. This is going to be a messy, messy divorce. I keep telling her that there is no way they can do this without lawyers. It is going to cost a lot more money and be a lot messier than she originally thought. But I think this is good because they will see just how crazy he is.

[d0nnivain]

All you can do is listen & encourage her to get a lawyer. I think you are right. These two seem hellbent on destroying each other which will most likely destroy them in the process.

[Miss Peach]

Gifts may become the property of the recipient but images belong to the person. There are also laws against posting revenge photos. have her ask her attorney. She should not turn over the book without a court order.

 

I was going to say something similar since it's going into revenge porn territory. Even if she lost the argument in court per se, some things aren't enforceable or there isn't a real consequence to not doing it which I would imagine in this case this could fall in that category. I'm not a lawyer so I adviser her to check with hers, but in my area the court probably wouldn't do more than award him the value of the book in the settlement. Mine didn't really care about household items like photos, books, furniture, etc.

[LostHubby2015]

I was going to say something similar since it's going into revenge porn territory. Even if she lost the argument in court per se, some things aren't enforceable or there isn't a real consequence to not doing it which I would imagine in this case this could fall in that category. I'm not a lawyer so I adviser her to check with hers, but in my area the court probably wouldn't do more than award him the value of the book in the settlement. Mine didn't really care about household items like photos, books, furniture, etc.

 

I would have to agree that some things aren't realistic to be returned, and IMO this falls into that category given the nature of the pictures. Now the physical book itself, I would think that is "his". That said I would suggest to remove all the pictures from the book, return the empty book and hang on to the pictures.

 

If he then says the pictures are his also, talk to an attorney, but then refuse to give them back and make them a specific item of note in court. If he does, he's dumber than anyone I've ever heard of and also, to a judge it'll make him look like a huge ass which, i would think, show that much more favor to your friend. I can't believe any decent person, especially a judge, would rule in his favor considering the content of the pictures.

[PegNosePete]

Not that easy unfortunately. Once the case begins and it's messy , it's better not to destroy any proof.

No I don't think so. There's really no point wasting lawyers fees talking about this.

 

If it's destroyed and her ex knows it, it will just be thrown straight out of court. The judge will say "where is this album?", your friend will say "I burned it several months ago and informed my ex that it is destroyed". The judge will say "Well then you can't have it because it doesn't exist any more". Next case.

 

Then your friend can sue him for frivolous litigation.

 

Oh and as mentioned make sure the photographer didn't keep any negatives / digital originals. She has a right to have them destroyed under data protection laws - unless she signed some kind of model release! If the photographer won't destroy the originals then she may need a lawyer's advice.