Even so, a computer “tells you everything about a person’s character,” said Brook Schaub, a forensic analyst and licensed private investigator at the accounting firm Eide Bailly. It has “become the file cabinet, the stationery, the social networking, the everything,” he said.

The data that can become publicly available depends largely on the individuals’ penchant for privacy and how careful they have been. Even those who value privacy during the relationship are at risk of the former spouse finding sensitive data.

The first steps taken after the divorce process begins can be critical.

Christine Leatherberry, a family lawyer in Dallas, said she recommended that her divorce clients create a new email account, stop sharing calendars and turn off the ability for apps on their phones to track their locations.

Someone committed to finding embarrassing or otherwise discrediting information about a spouse can most likely find a way, especially if he or she is willing to flout the law. Such revelations may not be admissible in court, but they could bring professional ramifications or personal embarrassment.

Take, for instance, the security questions that most important digital accounts, including email and banking, use to recover passwords if forgotten. Identifying your mother’s maiden name or the street you grew up on might foil distant identity thieves, but not a spouse.

Annette Burns, a family lawyer in Phoenix, suggested concocting untruthful answers that you could remember but that no one else could guess.

Frank Rudewicz, a principal at Marcum L.L.P. of Boston who focuses on forensic practice, said people had gone so far as to install malware on a spouse’s computer that would log keystrokes.