Use Social Media With Caution During A Divorce Case

 Posted on May 01, 2018 in Divorce

Social media is everywhere. Over the last decade, social media usage has skyrocketed to over 90% of the population. From opinionated tweets, to eye-catching photography on Instagram, to everyday stories on Facebook, everyone has something to say. While this is great for building businesses and maintaining relationships, sometimes not everything is meant to be shared with the world. Poorly timed posts have resulted in job loss, lawsuits, and even arrests. Likewise, anyone considering divorce should carefully think about who may be watching.

Admissibility in Court

Anything that is available for public knowledge is admissible in court. If you are going through a divorce or another family law dispute, you should strongly consider either deactivating your social media accounts or, at the very least, changing your privacy settings. Disabling the account prevents all access, including the potential sharing of your information with your spouse by mutual friends. The information would only be inadmissible if obtained by illegal or deceitful methods.

Do Not Delete

Deactivating the account and deleting posts are not the same. Perhaps you wanted to keep your contacts but get rid of a few potentially incriminating pictures. Before you go deleting your previous posts, you may want to reconsider, because that information is still going to be available for public knowledge, and it is also allowed to be obtained as part of the discovery process in a divorce case. If your spouse has a copy of a post, and you later delete it, you may face accusations of destroying evidence. The better idea is to deactivate the account. This will ensure that information is not publicly available, and after the divorce is final, the profile can be reactivated.

It Is Better to Be Safe Than Sorry

Social networks are always changing their privacy settings, and these changes may cause the information you thought was privately shared between you and a select group of people to be available for everyone. It would be unfortunate if the privacy settings were changed, and a rant about your ex-spouse became visible not only to your ex-spouse, but also to your children. Also, consider the subject of the level of loyalty of your mutual friends. Even if you believe without a shadow of a doubt that your friend would never share personal information with your ex, you would hate to find out the hard way that they were not as good of a friend as you thought. The best idea is to deactivate your account, or else just totally avoid using social media, at least until after the divorce has concluded.

A Skillful Attorney Can Help

If you have questions regarding social media and your divorce, an Oak Park, IL divorce attorney can help. The Law Office of Vincent C. Machroli, P.C. has over three decades of courtroom experience helping clients just like you find the answers they need. Call 708-449-7400 today to schedule your free initial consultation. 

Sources:

http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3061616/Facebook-Twitter-factor-one-seven-divorces.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-morrow/a-look-at-how-social-medi_b_10633940.html