Social media offers an interesting duality. On one hand, people often think of everything that they post as their own, personal information. On the other hand, they’re actively posting it on some of the most wide-reaching, public platforms of all time. Regardless of their privacy settings, it’s hard to know who is going to read this information.
If you’re going through a divorce, common advice is to refrain from posting about it while it happens. Remember that, should your divorce end up in court, those social media posts can be used. Are they going to hinder your progress toward your own goals? Are they going to impact your case and your future?
Evidence of your mindset
One way that social media posts can be used is as evidence of your own mindset and how you think when you’re not in front of the court. For instance, maybe you’re trying to get sole custody of your children, and so is your ex. You tell the court that you love spending time with the children and you are their main caretaker at home.
Then your ex shows the court a Facebook post that you made about how you were sick and tired of caring for the kids. Or they show the court a picture of you and your friends drinking and partying at the house, celebrating your separation from your spouse, with your kids appearing neglected in the background.
You can see how these posts could appear to the court. Context is important, but it may get lost. Maybe the picture with your kids was a joke and they laughed with you about it after posing for it. You know this, but does the judge? Does your ex? Are you now going to lose your chance at custody because of something you posted when you were feeling angry or when you were just joking and assumed everyone understood that?
Carefully navigating the process
You can see that it’s important to very carefully navigate the entire divorce process. Be sure you know what rights you have and what steps to take.