Your Family Matters

How to deal with social media in your divorce

On Behalf of | Oct 14, 2022 | family law

Depending on the legal issues that you’re facing in your divorce, you might have to deal with a lot of kinds of evidence. You might have to put forth documentation and testimony to establish the marital standard of living, present evidence as to which assets are marital in nature, and demonstrate how your proposed child custody arrangement is in your child’s best interests.

It’s no easy feat, especially given the emotional entanglements that are often involved in the divorce process. However, you might find comfort in knowing that your legal arguments are well-supported by the evidence that you have.

That’s why you’ll want to aggressively seek out favorable evidence and use it to your advantage. One powerful form of evidence in these types of cases continues to be social media posts.

How social media posts may be beneficial in your divorce case

Your spouse’s social media posts can help your case in a lot of ways. In fact, depending on the type of posts that you’ve gathered, they may be able to help you demonstrate each of the following:

  • Your spouse’s financial positioning: Your spouse’s financial health is key to a lot of divorce legal issues. It can be critical in showing the ability to pay child and spousal support, and it can also be an important factor in deciding how marital property should be divided. But it’s not always easy to prove how financially healthy your spouse is once you’re no longer living with him or her. Social media posts, though, might show that your spouse takes expensive vacations, drives luxurious vehicles, or has recently bought other expensive assets.
  • Your spouse’s lifestyle: How your spouse lives his or her life can be important in a child custody dispute. So, if there are social media posts that show your spouse engaging in substance abuse or other behavior that is detrimental to your child’s safety and well-being you might be able to effectively use those posts to your advantage.
  • Your spouse’s emotional standing: Social media is a place to share your feelings and connect with others. However, if your spouse is taking to that public forum to bash you, then you might be able to use those posts to demonstrate that your spouse doesn’t have an interest in co-parenting and is otherwise going to be difficult to deal with during the divorce process. This can help you better develop a divorce strategy that’s right for you.

Don’t forget to protect your interests

You have a lot at stake in your divorce. While that means that you need to play aggressive offense, you can’t overlook the importance of playing defense. In the context of social media, this means being cognizant of what you’re posting and how it may be interpreted by a spouse who is looking for anything and everything to use against you.

Therefore, if you want to protect your interests as fully as possible, then you should probably avoid social media altogether until your divorce is finalized.

Develop the divorce legal strategy that is best for your circumstances

There’s a lot that you have to take into account as you navigate your divorce. And if you fail to adequately address any of the issues before you, then you could end up facing a less than favorable outcome.

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