3 tips for social media use in divorce

On Behalf of | Jan 23, 2023 | Divorce

Social media use has been named in more than one divorce as the cause for disruptions in the marriage. If you aren’t careful, social media use can also turn your divorce very bitter, very fast.

Many people don’t realize exactly how their social media posts can end up factoring into their divorce, so they don’t exercise enough caution. With that in mind, here are some tips that may help:

1. Consider everything you post from the court’s point of view.

Ranting online in a series of posts about your spouse’s narcissism may feel cathartic when you’re doing it, but those could make you sound unwilling or unable to facilitate a healthy co-parenting relationship and hurt your custody case. Posts showing you enjoying vacations and dinners out can be used to show the court that you’ve got plenty of money for spousal support.

2. Do not post anything directly or indirectly about your spouse or divorce.

You have no real idea who may be delighted at the chance to play “spy” on you for your spouse – so anything you post about them or the divorce online could be carried back to them. Even if you “vaguebook” and post oblique comments about your frustrations that don’t directly name your spouse, you may infuriate your spouse – which can make divorce negotiations very difficult.

3. Change your email account and all your passwords.

There’s always a possibility that your spouse knows your passwords (or can guess them) and will sneak into your accounts to read your direct messages to other people, look at your emails for information you consider private (like communications from your attorney) and more. By opening a new email account and getting all new, randomly generated passwords, you protect yourself from intrusions.

Finally, your social media can’t cause a problem in your divorce if you don’t use it, so the ideal thing is to simply close your accounts or stop posting entirely. If that doesn’t appeal to you, consider opening secondary social media accounts with the privacy settings turned on “high” and a carefully curated list of friends, relatives and contacts that you can trust.