Ah, social media… one of the greatest inventions for the divorce business!
It’s hard to believe how much evidence can be gathered from someone’s social media if they aren’t careful. From rekindling old flames via DMs that get read aloud in court, posting photos of themselves violating court orders, criticizing the judge (!) or simply over-sharing along the way, social media has become a main player in divorces and other family law cases.
If you’ve got a family law case pending or soon to be, here are some tips for you:
Ideally, make your social media account(s) private so that only you can see them, and stop posting ANYTHING on your page or anyone else’s.
Don’t just increase your privacy thinking your friends would never share what they see. I can’t begin to tell you how many times someone’s private social media feed still gets entered into evidence because some “friend” is still buddies with the other side.
If you continue using social media, expect the judge will see every word and image, and post accoridngly. EVEN IF YOUR ACCOUNT IS PRIVATE, it could be subject to production to the other side for review or entry into evidence in court, and you may be called upon to explain yourself under oath.
If your children can see your social media account(s), anything you post about your former partner had better be glowing, because derogatory things posted where kids can see them is the same as talking smack about your ex in the presence of the kids, and is a violation of the parenting plan which is a court order. Violating a court order can mean jail time. This continues after the divorce is over, by the way.