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How Your Divorce Can Be Affected by Social Media

As reported by the Pew Research Center, around seven in 10 Americans state they use social media on a regular basis. Social media habits vary widely — some people use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media websites frequently, while other people only post occasional photos to keep in touch with their friends and family.

If you are like most people, you may not give much thought to your social media accounts. However, if you are going through a divorce, you should know your social media posts could potentially affect your case. Here, our Wheaton, IL divorce lawyers explain the most important things you need to know about social media and family law.

Social Media Posts Can Be Used as Evidence in a Family Law Case

As a general matter, social media posts can be admitted as evidence in a family law case — assuming the content is deemed relevant to the proceedings. Of course, this means social media posts could potentially be used against you across a wide range of different issues. Social media posts, messages, and photographs could affect matters such as:

  • Property division;
  • Debt division;
  • Spousal support;
  • Child support; and
  • Child custody or child visitation.

As an example, a post on social media may be used to obtain information regarding concealed property or concealed assets. Alternatively, the posts could be used to provide evidence related to parental fitness. Regardless, anything posted on social media should be considered ‘fair game’ in a divorce case.

 Best Practice: Avoid Posting on Social Media Until Your Divorce is Finalized

To protect yourself, it is generally a best practice to avoid posting on social media until your divorce is finalized. At the very least, you should avoid posting anything about your divorce or any other related legal matter. While most social media posts are relatively banal, it is always better to play it safe. You do not want to damage your case by accidentally posting something you should not.

It is worth mentioning that setting your social media account to ‘private’ does not offer blanket protection against having your posts used against you in court. While it is generally a good idea to increase your privacy settings, it is still possible private social media content could be obtained by another party, or by the court. You should assume anything you post on social media has the potential to become part of the public record.

Contact Our Illinois Divorce Lawyers Today

At Keller Legal Services, our Illinois divorce attorneys are committed to providing exceptional, fully personalized legal representation to our clients. If you are getting divorced, we are here to help. To set up a free, strictly confidential initial consultation, please contact our law firm right away. From our offices in Wheaton, Aurora, and Naperville, we serve communities throughout the region, including in DuPage County, Kane County, Kendall County, Will County, and Cook County.