It is really as simple as this, in today’s world, you should expect anything you post online could potentially be used against you in a pending divorce or custody proceeding. This seems pretty straight forward yet we still get many clients on both sides of a divorce who fail to appreciate the role their social media posts can have on their case. As a result, we are posting this helpful list of hints about the many things not to do on social media when going through divorce.
- Do not post hateful messages regarding your soon to be ex. This seems to be the most common problem we regarding our client’s social media use. If you are talking about how much you hate your spouse, what a bad parent they are, or in any way disparaging them, it will inevitably just make you look bad. Even if everything you are posting is true, it will only hurt your case with the judge. Resist the urge to tell the whole world just how much you hate your spouse.
- Never post anything regarding your children. Do not post any information regarding your children and your activities with them. There are several reasons for this but chief among them is the fact your ex may try and use information you posted about your activities with the kids against you. We have seen numerous cases where a party demonstrated a parent was lying about certain child activities based on images retried on facebook.
- Do not talk about your pending divorce at all. Don’t even seek advice from others online regarding your divorce. This is the only sure way that your ex will no be able to twist and turn your messages to their advantage.
- Do not post about your new dating or sex life. If you are going through a divorce you should not be posting information regarding your new intimate relationships. This often just makes you look bad and can potentially call into question your parental fitness, especially if your posts include documenting your late night partying.
If you are going through a divorce, before you post anything on facebook, just ask yourself if there is any way your former spouse can use this information to your disadvantage. Recently it seems 50% of more of our cases involve evidence of facebook and other social media posts. Blogs are another thing you should be very conscious of. Some people have blogs they haven’t checked in a long time that potentially contains information which could be detrimental to their custody dispute or other issue. Basically, when you go through a divorce, you should do an online audit of yourself to ensure any potential negative information is removed.
