How Social Media Can Be Used Against You and Your Family Law Issues

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are some of the most popular places on the internet for people to share not only links to interesting or humorous articles, but also personal information, feelings, etc. These sites can be fun to use when sharing stories, comments or photos, but sometimes people take it a bit too far and the content and other information they share with their followers can end up being used against them. This can be a big problem if you are someone involved in a family law case.

Some things to take into consideration before posting anything that can be used against you are that social networking sites are NOT private, even if someone doesn’t have full access to your profile; posted information is still available for anyone that may know you and your former spouse or parent of your child, such as a mutual friend, and even if you delete a post, it’s possible that it can still be found; information on these kind of sites are being used against people in legal matters more and more, especially when it comes to family law cases.

Privacy

If you are a member of a social networking site such as Facebook, chances are you have multiple friends, maybe even hundreds, on the site. Even if a person is not your friend online, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have access to your information through anyone else. Don’t forget that anything you post can easily be printed off or taken as a screen shot by someone viewing your profile. This content can then be reproduced and shared with others that may be blocked from accessing this information previously.
Some of these sites also may have security breaches, and with any online site you always run the risk of getting hacked.

Deleted Content Isn’t Actually Gone Forever

Electronic archives are increasingly being used in family law cases. These archives show what a social networking site used to look like on a certain date, even after the site has been changed, and courts are allowing this archived information to be used as evidence in family law cases.
One of the first things a family law or divorce attorney is likely to do is an Internet search of all parties involved. This includes a search of social networking pages for both sides. There is a lot of evidence that can be gathered through this search that could be used against a parent and used against them in order to put them in a negative light.
Just because you have deleted content from your feed doesn’t mean it’s actually gone. So think ahead before posting something that could potentially be used against you.

Social Media Used In Court
Photos
In family law cases, attorneys may often do an online search of the opposing side to find photos of them practicing inappropriate behavior that could hinder their chance at getting the custody they want of their children. Photos of a parent excessively drinking and partying could be used to prove that a parent is unfit to have full custody of their child or children. Attorneys have also been known to use photos of a parent’s possessions or big purchases in court to show that the user is in a better financial situation than they may have asserted in court documents.

Comments About The Other Parent

Quite often attorneys will use the comments that a parent leaves on their social networking sites against them to put a better light on their client. If one side is making comments or statuses about how much they like or dislike the other parent, the court may consider this as an inability to encourage a healthy relationship between the children and the other parent.
Other comments that could be used against a parent could be anything about the different behavior they take part in while not watching the children, including partying, drinking or doing drugs.
One should be very careful about anything they post on Facebook, even small comments, as they could be used against you in many ways and you could lose the benefit of having physical care of your children.

How far opposing sides will go to use social networking against the other party is different in each case, but whether you delete content or not, it is on the web to stay. All social networking users should take all of the necessary steps to preventing this content from being used against them. Your content may not intend harm, but it could come back to haunt you if you are to find yourself a part of a family law case. For more information on family law and how to stay protected, contact a Glendale divorce attorney at The Sampair Group today.