Scarlett Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 A woman has a business pre marriage. It is a graphic design business and fairly successful. She gets married 11 years ago and her new husband already has or buys a server. Do you buy a server? Or create one? Not sure how that works. So woman’s business is on her husbands server. Fast forward she has left him. She is attempting to get her business off of his account or server and on to her own. She is fearful to the point of illness that he will lock her out of her business. She is working with the server to help her move her business off but it takes 24/48 hours. If he does this, do you think it would be a criminal matter? She has been beaten down by him for so long that I don’t think she is thinking clearly. But I am not knowledgeable about IT and servers and all of that…..but it seems to me if it is her business he can’t legally sabotage it or deprive her of her livelihood. She did not give him the large sum of money he asked for…..she told him she wanted a legal agreement in place first. So she thinks he will hold her business hostage until she releases the money that he thinks is all his but indeed it is not. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Mouse Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 I don’t know anything about servers, but what you are describing sounds more like a civil matter than criminal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted December 28, 2021 Author Share Posted December 28, 2021 1 hour ago, City Mouse said: I don’t know anything about servers, but what you are describing sounds more like a civil matter than criminal. Can you explain why it might be civil vs criminal? Just because they are married? I just don’t know….. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 (edited) I am not clear on whether you mean he is running the server ( i.e.the physical computer that is home to her business stuff) or he has acquired domain space with an internet service provider and she is using his account to host her business. In either case, unless there is a contract, I don't see why he would have a legal obligation to either host her business on his machines or to grant her access to his account with the ISP. What do you mean by "she is working with the server to help her move..."? The server is a computer. Edited December 28, 2021 by regentrude 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 I think Civil too. It might be considered marital property so he has the right to do what he wants until a settlement is reached. But it also probably depends on what state they are in, if it is a community property state or not. Also, if she put it on his server, did she do anything that adds his name to the business? Or was she able to retain full ownership/control of the business despite using his server? Did he put it on for her so his name is the one attached to the business for the server? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Scarlett said: Can you explain why it might be civil vs criminal? Just because they are married? I just don’t know….. Criminal means someone is breaking a law. Can't see where this would apply here unless there is an actual contract. Civil means X caused Y harm in some way and Y is suing for damages. That might apply. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bootsie Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 I am not following what it is he might do. Does he have a web hosting service that is in his name that she is using that she is afraid he will cancel? I would think the service should be able to use backup files to restore the business site to another web hosting account. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 She hopefully has a backup of all her *files* in a different location? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 2 minutes ago, regentrude said: Criminal means someone is breaking a law. Can't see where this would apply here unless there is an actual contract. Civil means X caused Y harm in some way and Y is suing for damages. That might apply. Right. If there was mostly a verbal, "Hey honey can you run a server for me?" thing, the court isn't going to touch it with a ten foot pole, and most things like this, if breaking the law, are infractions of civil business code and not a matter for the criminal court. Add a marriage in, and it can easily be a matter of family court - ie. the divorce settlement. So much he said/she said when there isn't a contract. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 (edited) 38 minutes ago, regentrude said: She hopefully has a backup of all her *files* in a different location? This. Though if she doesn't, it might be too late. Why did she put her files on his server? if he insisted to 'save money" - he's already "been paid" for hosting as they weren't paying a third party to host her files during the marriage. So that money was available for them to use. Personal servers can easily be set up on a home computer dedicated to use as a server. 1dd and 1ds have set up personal servers (currently at least six households in four states can access it - the server is at 1dd's house.). 1dd has dealt with major servers for years as part of her work responsibilities. I too would think this would be a civil matter. Civil just means if he's found guilty of anything - he wouldn't be sent to prison. Just fines at most. Maybe lose a license if he's found to have violated its requirements, but I don't see how that would be pertinent here. Dh came out of auditing, and it left him paranoid. He has a backup for his backup. If he loses his computer - he still has two backups offsite. Without at least one, he'd lose his entire client database. (15 years) Edited December 28, 2021 by gardenmom5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 I have an AWS (Amazon) personal account. If hypothetically my husband were to host his business website on my AWS account, without a formal agreement, there nothing stopping me from deleting all his stuff. If I charge my husband a hosting fee and he writes the fee off as business expenses then it would become a civil case (breach of contract) If she register her business website domain with a domain name service under only her name or her business name, she still owns it. Her husband can’t do anything about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted December 28, 2021 Author Share Posted December 28, 2021 He owns the server. She owns the business. She is afraid he will lock her out of her account. She has already backed up her files. But there is more to do still. Hopefully he will leave itxss as live until she can get it out of his control.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 4 hours ago, Scarlett said: She is working with the server to help her move her business off but it takes 24/48 hours. 8 minutes ago, Scarlett said: He owns the server. She owns the business. She is afraid he will lock her out of her account. She has already backed up her files. But there is more to do still. Hopefully he will leave itxss as live until she can get it out of his control.? Pay for one of those web hosting companies to host her website. Change her website DNS to point to this new server. It would take a few hours at most. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted December 28, 2021 Author Share Posted December 28, 2021 27 minutes ago, Arcadia said: Pay for one of those web hosting companies to host her website. Change her website DNS to point to this new server. It would take a few hours at most. Thanks. She is on the phone with them right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.