Avoid These Social Media Blunders During Your Divorce
Posted on October 12, 2018 in Social Media
The internet has revolutionized the way we communicate with each other. Social media has allowed us to send and receive information about each other in the blink of an eye. Nearly 70 percent of Americans have at least a Facebook account. Although websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram can be wonderful tools to stay in touch with friends and family, they can also become a significant responsibility during tumultuous times such as a divorce. If you are considering ending your marriage, you should know that social media activity can come up during a divorce. It is critical for anyone getting divorced to be intentional about what they post online.
Social Media Mistake #1: Oversharing Personal Information
For many married individuals, separating from their spouse leaves them feeling alone and empty. In order to vent their frustrations or express their grief about the marriage, they take to social media. This is a major mistake. Unfortunately, careless comments made by people getting divorced can and have come back to haunt them. In one such case, a wife’s Facebook activity was used as evidence during a formal custody case. The couple shared custody of a 4-year-old child together. The husband alleged that the wife took frequent vacations without their child while she had custody of him. The court ordered the wife to show her Facebook profile. It contained many pictures proving that she frequently spent time away from her child during her allotted parenting time.
Social Media Mistake #2: Letting Your Emotions Get the Better of You
Going through a divorce can be incredibly taxing emotionally and psychologically. However, serious problems can arise when spouses getting divorced express those emotions online. Another example of a divorce case that was affected by Facebook is one in which a woman complained online, “My children have a really, really bad father.” The court considered this and other statements evidence that she would not support her children’s relationship with their father. The court awarded the father more parental responsibility as a result.
Social Media Mistake #3: Getting Caught in a Lie
Social media posts are often timestamped and location-tagged. Things like “checking in” at a location a spouse said they would avoid can bring his or her trustworthiness into question during the divorce process. Some divorcing spouses have gotten into hot water after posting pictures on social media of expensive purchases or assets that he or she did not disclose during discussions about property division. Creating a profile on a dating app like Tinder or OKCupid before a divorce is finalized is another critical social media mistake to avoid.
Getting Divorced? Let Us Help.
For sound legal guidance at every step of your divorce, contact the experienced DuPage County family law attorneys at Andrew Cores Family Law Group. Call us at 630-871-1002 today for a free consultation.
Sources:
https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/family_law/childcustody.authcheckdam.pdf
https://www.recode.net/2018/3/1/17063208/facebook-us-growth-pew-research-users
