The holiday season is filled with a lot of seasonal delights, including holiday parties and the chance to unwind and forget about your divorce for a few minutes.
However, the holiday season can also be a little bit perilous to your case if the wrong thing happens to find its way to social media and casts you in a bad light. You can bet that — no matter how carefully you try to restrict access to your Facebook page or screen your posts elsewhere — the other party in your dispute will try to scour your social media pages for “evidence” that can be used against you in court
What sort of things could be held against you?
- Photos where you’re drinking or appear to be drunk at a party (which might indicate that you aren’t suitable for custody of the children)
- Photos where you are partially unclothed or videos of you behaving in a sexual manner (which, again, could be used to demonize you as a parent)
- Comments alluding to your divorce, your spouse or your legal battle that could be seen as disparaging to your ex (which the court may use as an indication that you’re not willing to work on co-parenting)
- Photos of expensive gifts to your new partner (which can be used to claim that you have the resources to pay more support or are hiding income)
- Photos or comments about your holiday vacation (which your spouse can use to say you aren’t as broke as your financial affidavit claims)
The smart thing to do is to shut your social media pages down entirely and make sure that the rest of your social circle knows not to tag you or post any photos or videos of you for the time being. Short of that, it may be wise to have a candid conversation with a divorce attorney about your social media concerns before you make a mistake.