Drawing A Line Between Your Spouse And Your Work

They say that your spouse cannot testify against you, that's obvious. But if you are in any given field and happen to disclose certain types of sensitive information to your spouse, it could still land you in the hot pot. In particular, one Sandra Fernandez married a defense lawyer. she worked in the Brooklyn District Attorney's office as a prosecutor, and on several occasions over a few months, she went in and requested confidential criminal history checks on various people she claimed to be investigating for assault. But she was actually requesting those for her then boyfriend, the defense attorney who is now her husband. she essentially illegally accessed these files, and he effectively used them to win quite a few of his cases. She was of course busted, disbarred, and underwent 5 years probation. Ah the stupid things we do for love.

If you were in the same company, sharing sensitive information while your spouse was not supposed to know that particular detail, you could easily be fired. if you are a therapist sharing details of your clients' sessions with your spouse, they could sue you. Actually, I've known some therapists who obviously did, their spouses made it obvious and even in some ways disclosed those stories they had only told their therapist, and as far as I'm concerned, they should have been sued and lost their licenses among various other things. In those cases, some of the spouses were house moms or dads, and in most cases their career choice had no connection, but they obviously didn't know how to keep their mouths shut. it's one thing to tell your spouse details with no names or indications of who it is about. it's quite another to bluntly disclose confidential information to your spouse or anyone else, whether they happen to have a big mouth or not.

Still in terms of related careers, it sometimes surprises me the people that come together. For example Mary Matlin Republican and James Carville Democrat, both highly influential in their worlds. But apparently, they fell in love, and Matalin has pointed out the true point of "Just because he thinks wrongly doesn't mean he's not smart." Now it would be great if they could agree that the other might be right, but that's better than most could do or would do.