Think Before You Click | Cleaning up social media in Divorce Matters in AL
We live in a unique time where social media is a prominent part of many of our lives. People post pictures of their children, their pets, their shoes and their lunch. They share their highs, their lows, and their in-betweens. While this is okay in some situations, those who are going through a divorce should be mindful of their social media activity. Generally speaking, anything that is posted to your social media accounts can be used as evidence by a divorce attorney in Birmingham during your domestic relations proceedings. Your seemingly harmless posts have the potential to come back and negatively impact your divorce proceedings, child custody, and child support agreement negotiations. This is true even if you have your accounts set to private.
Reading this, you may feel tempted to go through your accounts and delete old posts and photos that may shed a negative light on you. In doing this, you will only make yourself look guilty and like you have something to hide. In addition to this, you may also be found guilty of intentionally destroying or withholding evidence that could be used during your divorce proceedings. So, what can you do to protect yourself from this point on? We have listed a few suggestions for you below.
Post mindfully.
If you can’t resist the urge to post to your social media accounts, be sure to think carefully before you post anything. Avoid posting negative thoughts or feelings about your spouse, your divorce case, and yourself. You will also want to avoid making posts about your lifestyle. This includes posts about shopping, vacations, drinking, parties, and new love interests. Remember that what you post can be misconstrued and taken out of context. Even something that you may see as innocent, such as a picture of you and your best friend at happy hour after work, can be misinterpreted by your spouse and their Alabaster divorce attorney.
Check your settings.
Review your privacy settings in all of your social media accounts. Set restrictions on who can view content that you post and content that you are tagged in. If you have the option, set up your account to notify you when someone tags you in a post or to require you to approve a tag before you can be tagged in a post. Although this does not ensure complete privacy, it will give you more control over what is being shared and who can see it.
Review your friends and followers.
Understand that it is not just your social media content that will be under scrutiny during your divorce proceedings in Shelby County. It is important to remove friends and followers who can potentially cause problems with your divorce. Remove people that you do not know well or who lead questionable lifestyles (such as excessive drinking and partying). Consider removing friends that you share with your spouse and who are related to your spouse. While you may not have anything to hide from your spouse, you do not want anything that you post to be misconstrued and shared with them.
Deactivate your accounts.
If you are not active on social media, there is nothing to be used against you. Consider deactivating your social media accounts until your divorce has been finalized. This does not mean that your content will be undiscoverable by the courts. It can, however, remove the temptation to make posts that can negatively impact your divorce. This will also disable you from checking up on your spouse’s social media, thus relieving some emotional stress as well.
Consult with your attorney.
It is your attorney’s job to protect your best interests throughout your divorce. They can be a useful resource in helping you clean up your social media accounts without potentially harming your divorce in the process. If you have questions about what steps, set up a consultation with one of our divorce attorneys in Hartselle today.
Attorney Steven A. Harris regularly blogs in the areas of family law, bankruptcy, and real estate closings on this website. He is always available in any of the firm’s offices or by phone anytime for a consultation. Mr. Harris tries to provide informative information to the public in easily digestible formats. Hopefully you enjoyed this article and feel free to supply any feedback. We appreciate our readers and love to hear from you!
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