Comment Mediator perspective (Score 1) 458
IAADM (I Am A Divorce Mediator).
I worked once with a couple who had a major point of contention over 10 years of family photos stored on the family computer. While he had physical possession of the computer, he claimed the hard drive failed so there was no way to recover the data. She claimed there *must* be a box of negatives somewhere. He responded they had shot only digital for the last several years. I asked if anyone had thought to keep backups for this irreplaceable community property. (of course not). I offered to refer them to a data recovery firm. (can't afford it, too many legal bills already).
Long and the short was, they spent many more $$$ paying their lawyers to litigate who gets to keep the dead hard drive.
Please, please, please, don't expect the law or the courts to solve this problem for you. Sit down together like adults and work it out!