Think before You Post: Social Media Can Impact Family Law Cases

 Posted on August 14, 2014 in Family Law

With the advent of social media, people have become comfortably used to sharing the intimate details of their lives. However, many forget that what gets posted online does not always stay online. Hence, there is a good chance that what a person says on Facebook could come back to haunt them in the courtroom. Below are examples of ways social media use may impact family law cases

Hidden Assets? Not Any More

Hypothetically, a husband decides he does not want to pay his soon-to-be-ex spouse a significant amount of spousal support. Thus, he decides to hide some of his assets during the acrimonious divorce. He sells stocks, stashes money in offshore accounts, and downsizes his house and car. The judge believes his riches-to-rags story, and his now ex-wife gets a far smaller support order than she had anticipated.

In celebration, the now ex-husband takes his new girlfriend on a vacation, and the girlfriend posts pictures of their lavish trip. However, if the ex-wife discovers the pictures, she can take them to court as evidence that the ex-husband is worth more than he claimed and she can ask the judge to modify the support order. In fact, the ex-husband may end up paying more than he had hoped to, and will likely find himself in serious trouble for lying to the court.

Character Evidence

Another example is when a husband and wife are engaged in a bitter fight over the custody of their children. Life is stressful, and the wife does not have a lot of patience with the children right now. She posts messages on social media about how frustrated she is, how she would like to take the kids and run so that husband cannot get custody, or how she would like to severely discipline the children. If the husband sees these posts, this information may be admissible to show that the wife is an unfit parent and that it is not in the children’s best interests to remain with her.

Contact a Family Law Attorney

Social media can impact family law cases significantly. If you live in Illinois and are going through a divorce or dealing with support or custody matters, contact an experienced divorce attorney at the Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices to make sure that social media is being used on your behalf, and not against you.