Social media has become a part of many people’s daily lives. Your accounts help you connect with the people you care about and keep them informed about your current situation. Social media can assist in maintaining a relationship with your college roommate and your manager from your first job, who can be valuable resources when you find yourself struggling emotionally.
Being able to tap into a support network is valuable for those facing emotionally difficult times, like an upcoming divorce. Unfortunately, the way you use social media before and during your divorce could potentially hurt your case in court.
What are some of the most common social media mistakes?
Making it look like you live a luxurious life
People use social media to control the way that other people perceive them. Posting images of your recent trip to the beach or a fancy dinner out can help you share your happiest moments with others.
However, what you post on Facebook could create an unrealistic idea about your personal wealth and standard of living. Your ex might be able to share those posts as evidence that might impact support and property division decisions.
Making it look like you are a terrible parent
Do you share memes about spanking your children in part because you feel strongly like you should not physically discipline your kids? Do you sometimes use social media to discuss your children’s behavior or joke about the stresses of parenting?
The things that you share on social media could potentially make you look like an unfit parent and influence how the courts divide your parental responsibilities. While the people who know you understand your sense of humor, the strangers at court won’t necessarily know that your spouse has intentionally taken your posts out of context to make you look bad.
Making it seem like you were the one who cheated
Maybe you finally got tired of your spouse’s constant affairs and filed for divorce, or perhaps they left you for one of their adulterous relationships. When you decide to move on before the courts finalize your divorce, it’s important to keep those decisions private. Otherwise, your cheating ex might use a photo from your recent date as proof that you were unfaithful, not them.
It’s important to realize that anything you share on social media could wind up used as evidence in court, even if you try to limit who can see your content. You never know if there might be a fake account following you or a friend who happily provides your private content to your ex. Recognizing how social media use could hurt your legal case will help you make good choices about what you post online before the end of your divorce.