CARLOS DANGER DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME

Former Congressman and New York Mayoral Candidate Anthony Weiner – aka Carlos Danger - did not follow the advice I give my clients.  I tell all my family law clients, and prospective clients, the same thing when I first meet with them:  Don’t Do Anything Stupid.  It’s a mantra that I try and drill into their head throughout my representation.  If you do something stupid, I advise clients, it is going to come back to haunt you and, one day, a Judge may peer at you over his or her bench after hearing testimony of your actions and wonder what the *&%$ you were thinking (and why your attorney did not advise you against this course of conduct).

Congressman Weiner’s actions surely fall within the category of stupid.  Does anyone really think that a married man, with a wife and baby at home, sexting with a 22 year old girl is not stupid?  Let alone someone running for elective office who had been publicly caught doing this before.

Weiner’s actions – and public humiliation – remind me once again to proffer, free of charge, the best advice an attorney can give any family law client:  Don’t do anything stupid. 

Before engaging in any course of conduct ask yourself how it would look if details of what you were doing were discovered by your spouse or family.  In this electronic age, it is extremely difficult to do anything without it being recorded, taped or electronically stored.  Google maintains unfathomable amounts of information about its users, including Gmail records and even the YouTube videos you have viewed, and electronic information may be easily discovered during the course of litigation.  A client’s own words, including those written in texts and e-mails or left on a cell phone, are often the greatest and most damaging evidence available to lawyers in divorce litigation.  Who can forget the voicemail that an angry Alec Baldwin left for his daughter that was later disclosed and heard by the world?  Think that voice mail helped during the custody battle?

Simple advice people:  Don’t do anything stupid.  Carlos, are you listening?