Thursday 15 January 2015

Will Facebook Impact My Divorce?

By Megan Sheppard


Social Media has grown rapidly in recent years and millions of people use Internet platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Snapchat to share pictures and status updates to their friends and networks. Even the Divorce Attorneys here Minick Law, P.C. here in Gastonia, NC use a number of different social media channels to connect with prospective, current, and past clients. All this information that you share on the Internet, however, is public, especially when it comes to the courtroom. This last part often comes as a huge surprise to parties in the middle of, or seeking, a divorce. Here's how social media affects your divorce.

With the growing use of social media, many people believe that the information they post is private and limited to the people that they share it with. Although this seems like a logical conclusion, in reality, the exact opposite is true. For the most part, everything you post or share is easily accessible with the right expertise and tools. Additionally, most Terms of Use on social media websites state that information shared on social media is not yours to own and is not considered private.

These "terms of use" and their public nature apply also to the divorce process. Many people turn to social media when they're going through divorce because it truly is an emotional and stressful process. So, they use social media to vent, to seek advice, and, often, to speak negatively about their spouse. This last one can carry with it serious consequences. Negative posts, explicit or incriminating images, and many other types of material are found, saved, and brought up in court. This kind of information can be detrimental to you in your divorce case.

Lawyers too search on social media for information that might be beneficial in a divorce. Your "friends," your posts, pictures, "check-ins" at certain locations, "likes," profile activity and page views-all these can be used as evidence in your defense or against you.

As it can be seen, the use of social media can produce a lot of information that an individual may not want to become public. Because of this, you should adopt the attitude that everything and anything you post on the Internet could one day show up at any time - especially in court. As such, when going through a divorce, you should generally avoid posting anything relating to your divorce or your spouse as it may negatively affect your case.




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