Social Media Can Impact Your Divorce

Most people use social media sites of one type or another. Facebook is obviously the big one right now, but there are also professional sites like Linkedin, photo-sharing sites like Instagram and much more. If you use these and you’re getting divorced in California, they could play a big role.

For one thing, they can give you an idea of your spouse’s financial picture. For example, if he or she goes to court and says there’s not enough money for child support, but then posts pictures of a tropical vacation, you know something’s not right.

Remember, you don’t have to see these things directly. Many spouses delete their connection when they’re getting divorced; your spouse could even actively block you. However, since it’s all a web, your spouse probably still has mutual friends who will see the posts and tell you about it.

Online messages can also be used in court as evidence. You could even go back to old messages, when the relationship was going well, where your spouse brags about a promotion, a raise, a bonus he or she was given, an ownership share in a company that was offered and much else. If the financial information that he or she is providing to the court seems to leave some of this out, these online messages—and text messages—can help to paint the real picture.

On the whole, people voluntarily put a ton of information online with social media sites, and so it’s important to know how this information can work its way into the divorce proceedings. Remember, it works both ways, so be careful about the things you put online.

Source: Forbes, “How Social Media Can Affect Your Divorce,” Jeff Landers, accessed Nov. 27, 2015