Social Media Mistakes You’ll Want to Avoid During Your Florida Divorce
Lawyers typically despise social media, at least when it comes to our clients. Clients can make all sorts of mistakes online that impact the outcome of their case. Often, the impact is quite negative. Even seemingly innocuous posts can undermine your arguments in court. Hence why attorneys often caution our clients not to use social media while their divorce is pending. Nonetheless, social media can be addictive, and keeping our clients off social media can be difficult. In this article, the St. Petersburg, FL, divorce lawyers at the Law Office of Kevin F. Coleman will discuss what mistakes you should avoid when going on social media during your divorce. These include:
- Oversharing your personal details – You want to avoid oversharing personal details that could impact your divorce case. This is especially true if you’re litigating your divorce, as these posts can be used as evidence against you. Personal details include intimate details concerning your breakup, legal strategies, or financial information that can be used against you.
- Badmouthing your former spouse – Badmouthing your former spouse can be perceived as parental alienation. Parental alienation occurs when one spouse tries to turn the children against the other. Venting frustrations or making derogatory remarks can negatively impact the court’s child custody decisions.
- Sharing incriminating photos – Photos or videos posted online can be used against you during your divorce. If these photos show you spending a lot of money, partying, or engaging in risky behavior, the court could use that information against you when dividing the marital estate, awarding alimony, or making decisions concerning your children.
- Neglecting your privacy settings – If you fail to secure your privacy settings on social media, or think that a private account makes you immune to scrutiny, you could find out the hard way that you’re wrong. Your information might still be accessible by legal means or shared with others.
- Failing to protect the privacy of your children – Sharing details about your children or exposing them to parental disputes can be viewed negatively by the court.
- Posting about a new relationship – Posting about a new relationship too soon, particularly when children or alimony are involved, can negatively impact your case.
- Discussing legal strategies or case details – Sharing information about the case, venting about the court, or discussing any aspect of the legal proceedings on social media can be used against you by the opposing party.
- Violating court orders – If your social media activity depicts you violating a court order or a parenting plan, such as revealing confidential information, it can lead to legal penalties.
- Deleting posts after litigation begins – If you delete posts once your case is underway, it could be construed as evidence tampering by the court. That could be used against you by the opposing party.
You should definitely remember that anything shared online can be used against you in court. It doesn’t matter if you intended the post for a limited audience. Even private messages and deleted content can be retrieved as evidence. It is, therefore, necessary to use extreme caution when posting on social media.
Talk to a St. Petersburg, FL, Divorce Lawyer Today
The Law Office of Kevin F. Coleman represents the interests of St. Petersburg residents during their divorce. Call our St. Petersburg family lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin preparing your case right away.
