Popular social media sites can work for or against you during divorce

Social media sites are a great way to share what you love with your friends and connect with family members that don’t live near Norfolk County. However, during a divorce, the use of popular sites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter can have real consequences on the outcome of a divorce.

The use of social media in divorce cases

According to the Academy of Matrimonial lawyers, approximately 81 percent of members have used or encountered a piece of evidence that they found on a social media site. One of the main ways social media can have an impact on a divorce case is through the financial aspects. For example, a woman can find out about her estranged husband’s financial activities simply by viewing his social media accounts or obtaining information through mutual friends. This could cause the husband trouble in court if he claims he is too poor to afford to make alimony payments but his social media accounts host a slew of pictures of a new vehicle or a trip out of the country with a new lover.

While valuable information about your spouse that could have an impact on your divorce may work out in your favor, it is important to remember that what you post online can also work against you as well. Remember that any use of social media during your divorce is public, even if your privacy settings are tightly managed, and permanent. A general guideline to follow during divorce is to not share anything online that you wouldn’t want shared with the whole world that would be remembered forever.

Protecting your best interests

According to Business Insider, there are over 1 billion Facebook users and 67 percent of Internet users in the U.S. go on this social networking site. However, approximately 25 percent of these users don’t bother to take advantage of the site’s privacy settings to manage private information, says the Huffington Post. When you are going through a divorce, make sure that you actively manage your privacy on social media sites by limiting what posts others can see and disabling the “tag” function for pictures. In addition to managing your privacy settings:

• Don’t use these sites to air your personal grievances publicly about your spouse.
• Refrain from making negative comments about your spouse.
• Avoid posting pictures of yourself at parties and events.
• Don’t publicly display your relationship status.
• Avoid answering questions about your divorce online and use face-to-face communication as much as possible.

In addition to following these tips, contact an experienced family law attorney that can advise you on how to manage your social profiles online in order to ensure the successful outcome of your divorce.