Tennessee residents pondering divorce should take note: Their smartphone could be used as evidence in court.

A recent survey conducted by a family law association shows an increasing amount of evidence being taken from smartphones is showing up as part of divorce cases. Text messages, according to the head of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, make for effective evidence because they show in writing what at least one party in the divorce is thinking and doing.

While phone search warrants can provide enough evidence to arrest a suspect, they also can make a valuable contribution to divorce cases, experts said. Cellphone carriers might be forced by search warrant to turn over text messages and other smartphone records, but a divorcing spouse can save and voluntarily share any text messages that might help to prove his or her case.

In divorce cases that use smartphone evidence, 62 percent of the cases involve text messages, according to the survey. Next come e-mails, which represent 23 percent of the evidence, followed by phone numbers and cell records at 13 percent. GPS and Internet search histories combine to make up 1 percent.

And just as divorcing spouses have learned that information gleaned from social media sites like Facebook can contain damning information in a divorce case, so can smartphones. As Americans are slowly starting to learn not to use social media sites to share photos or other content they wouldn't want significant others, law enforcement or employers to see, they should consider transfering that caution to the smartphone.

Source: Huffington Post, "Divorce Evidence: Smart Phones Increasingly Used As Source," Feb. 10, 2012