Think Before You Post: Protect Yourself from Social Media Mistakes During Divorce and Child Custody Cases
Social media mistakes during divorce can have serious consequences—especially when child custody is involved. Social media connects our world today more than ever before. In fact, it’s rare to meet someone who doesn’t have at least one social media account, whether on Facebook, Instagram, X, Blue Sky, Snapchat, or another platform.
In so many ways, social media does make a positive contribution to our world. It keeps us connected, encourages communication, provides information, and is a way to share our lives with those close to home and around the world. For all of its positive attributes, however, social media can have a negative side, which can be particularly true in your unique situation.
Those contemplating divorce or currently going through the divorce process should be aware that social media can present some challenges and dangers. Knowing the risks and how to avoid them can be tremendously helpful as you move forward with the divorce process.
Recognizing Social Media Challenges and Avoiding Mistakes During Divorce
Sending a text, making a post, sharing some content on a social media platform – all of these things sound like they can be harmless. During a divorce, however, it’s important to remember that anything you put in writing and share with others ultimately has the potential to be used in your case. There are records of the text messages you send. When you post on social media, even if you think you’ve “shared only with friends,” you still risk that a screenshot may be taken by those you know. When you share content to sites where you think it may easily be removed later, just know that that could sometimes not end up being the case.
The bottom line is that when it comes to social media, it’s best to be cautious if you’re going through a divorce. Here are a few mistakes to try to avoid:
Negative Posts About Your Spouse: A Costly Social Media Mistake During Divorce
Depending upon the circumstances of your divorce, you may feel many painful emotions and have a great deal of anger and resentment toward your spouse. Those feelings are normal and understandable. It can be tempting to want to post those negative feelings online – to tell the world how you feel, to vent to your friends on social media, and receive messages of support and affirmations that what your spouse did was terrible. While all those feelings are normal, resisting this temptation is wise.
This is the case for a few reasons. First of all, although you and your spouse may no longer be married after the divorce, if you have children, you will always be parents. You may later regret posting negative things that your children could end up reading, and that will harm your coparenting relationship going forward. After all, even though you may be angry at your spouse, it’s likely that you still love your children very much. You want to do what you can to ensure that they feel peace and stability in your coparenting relationship. Secondly, it’s important to remember that, although you may intend to post negative things about your spouse you may achieve the opposite effect. You could come across as petty and vindictive. This isn’t a good look, particularly if you are seeking custody of your children or spousal support. You don’t want to risk such negative comments being read and saved for later use in your case.
Don’t Share Your Dating Life
If your relationship ended badly or if your marriage has been over from an emotional standpoint for some time, you may be eager to jump into the dating scene. While that is understandable in some ways, it is advised not to share any photos or other information about dating before your divorce is finalized. It’s important to realize that although you think you may be posting these photos to a group of trusted friends, there’s always a chance they could get back to your spouse. Not only will this likely make your spouse angry and unlikely to cooperate or compromise with you during settlement negotiations, but it could even impact your case in terms of child custody and spousal support. Regarding dating, it’s simply best to wait until your divorce is official.
Social Media and Mental Health Posts: A Risky Move in Custody Cases
If you feel emotionally distressed and mentally exhausted during the divorce process, that’s completely normal. And it’s absolutely okay to feel the full spectrum of emotions. Divorce is the ending of the life you had planned together, and it’s normal to grieve that loss – even if it’s for the best. Although they may be tempting to post about your struggles to receive support from friends, the truth is that it’s best not to do so during a divorce. Unfortunately, your spouse might end up seeing that information and using it against you to try to seek sole custody of your children. Even though struggling with mental health is completely normal and understandable, you don’t want to risk the information being misconstrued and potentially damaging your case. Instead, find a trusted friend, family member, or therapist to speak to outside of social media.
Don’t Trust Text Messages
Although texts are not technically social media, we believe it’s important to include a warning about text messages, because, as with social media, it’s easy to trust that your texts are private when in fact, they may not be. Often, in a moment of frustration or anger, you may type and send a text message to someone you feel you can trust. And for the most part, you probably can. However, sometimes divorce can change relationships, even friendships, in unexpected ways. It’s not at all unusual for friends to take sides during a divorce. While that’s unfortunate, it’s just true. What’s also true is that sometimes friends may surprise you, and it’s possible that you won’t know which side a friend will take until it happens. For that reason, it’s best to avoid putting negative or damaging things in writing where a screenshot can be taken and saved. This is not to mention that, depending on your carrier, your text messages may be archived and subpoenaed for use as evidence down the road. The best way to avoid that is to avoid sending them altogether.
Although this is by no means an exhaustive list of suggestions, we hope it is helpful as you navigate the divorce process in our world of social media. While it may be difficult to restrain yourself from making certain posts or sending certain messages during your divorce, you will be glad you did so in the long run. Avoiding social media mistakes during divorce can help protect your parental rights and maintain credibility in court. Even seemingly harmless posts can turn into major social media mistakes during divorce proceedings. This is a difficult process, but it’s not a process that will last forever. It’s important that you believe that and seek the help you need to make it through this process as smoothly and stress-free as possible, and to move on to a better chapter ahead. At the law office of Dustin McCrary, we’re here to help you do exactly that. We’ve helped many clients recognize and steer clear of social media mistakes during divorce and child custody negotiations, and are happy to be your confidant and guide as well.
The Law Office of Dustin McCrary – One Call Away
At the Law Office of Dustin McCrary, we make it our job to understand every angle of the divorce process, including complex social media issues. We know how complicated the law can be at times, and evolving technology can add to that complexity. We are passionate about understanding these issues and finding the best ways for families to address them and move forward to a better and brighter chapter ahead.
Although divorce is never easy, it can be manageable with the right legal team, walking with you and guiding you on the journey. That’s what we’re here to do. We want to help you make it through this process with the minimal amount of stress possible so that you can move forward to the future with hope and optimism about what lies ahead. If you’re ready to get started, give us a call today. We look forward to speaking with you soon.