In our everyday life, Facebook and other social media services can play a very important role in sharing mementos of our daily activities with our friends and family. Social media also allows people to reconnect with high school and or college friends that live far away. It makes staying in contact with others very easy because social media allows you to tell people where you are having breakfast or what concert you are at or where you are vacationing.
When you post these types of activities on social media, you are exposing your schedule, whom your friends are, and more importantly in a divorce situation – how much money you are spending on non-essential items. It has been the experience of New Horizons Law, P.A., Michael J. Costantino, Esq. that family law judges will hold a negative view of these types of expenditures when they issue orders that awards temporary or permanent spousal or child support; as well as the distribution of assets and liabilities at a final hearing on your divorce.
New Horizons Law, P.A., Michael J. Costantino, Esq. has found that social media can also be the reason why a husband and wife decide to divorce or why one ex-spouse may file a petition to modify child custody or alimony. There are a number of recent studies which show that Facebook has become a leading cause of separation and or divorce.
New Horizons Law, P.A., Michael J. Costantino, Esq. has seen numerous instances where after a husband and wife have separated but prior to a final judgment of dissolution of marriage being granted, one or both parties turn to Facebook to post nasty comments about each other on their “wall”. What good can come from sharing such personal information on Facebook during a divorce? These types of comments not only affects the parties, but it also can cause friends and family members of the spouses to become involved in divorce process and post negative things on their own wall which then may cause even more people to get involved. This type of behavior makes it very likely that negotiation to settle a divorce will be very acrimonious – which also means that by airing a little dirty laundry on social media the divorce will become much more expensive. While this is obviously good for the attorneys involved in the case, it is counter-productive in terms of resolving the divorce.
New Horizons Law, P.A., Michael J. Costantino, Esq. realizes that a person who is going through a divorce is often under a lot of stress, so the best thing to do may be to eliminate or greatly reduce the use of social media while your dissolution of marriage case in pending in the Family Law Court. Remember that whatever you post on the internet through social media can be permanent because others save or download these posts. It is also important to think about your life after a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage has been granted. If you have children, you are going to have to see your former husband or wife on a regular basis. So before posting anything negative, please beware of the consequences.