Expert: Dan Pepper - 2/3/2009

Question
Is it illegal in Illinois, County of Cook to access your wife's e-mail and view them?  I am in the middle of a divorce and some of the e-mails contain false accusations she plans on making.  I would like to use the correspondence in court and or depositions.

I purchased the computer.  The computer is maintained in a room that our entire family utilizes.  The yahoo account is listed in my name and her e-mail is a secondary e-mail.  I have the power to cancel her e-mail if I choose too.  Her password is the same as her password on her cell phone and that is how I accessed it.  The correspondence is between a family member and her.

Please let me know what you think.


Answer
In my opinion your wife does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy with her emails if you have control and access to her email (and presumably, she is aware of that).  You should speak to your divorce attorney about this issue, however.  

Please note that I cannot give legal advice in this forum.  You should also review other answers that I have given in the past on this topic, where I have given explanations of the case law on similar issues.