Increasingly, evidence from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, blogs and other social media has been used in family law cases. Social media is a frequent topic of discovery in divorce cases, often impacting child support, spousal maintenance and child custody issues. Sometimes, social media evidence is critically important; other times, it is just nonsense and a waste of time. Frequently, the evidence is used to establish a person’s spending habits, to show irresponsible behavior by a parent, or to catch one of the parties in an outright lie.

If you are involved in a divorce, child custody or child support case, you should carefully consider the potential legal ramifications before you post any information on social media or your blog. You should especially think twice before commenting about your spouse, your spouse’s lawyer, or the judge. Finally, do not post any pictures of any type of activity or personal information that could be used against you in court. For example, if you are asking for more time with your kids, you don’t need to be posting pictures of yourself at the bar or strip club. This type of evidence could haunt you for years in relation to your case.

Here are five helpful tips to consider for the safe use of social media before posting while you are involved in a lawsuit of any kind, but especially if you are in family court:

1. If you would not say it to your grandmother, don’t post it. If grandma would hold it against you, so would the court.

2. Anything you post on your social media is likely archived or printed. Even if the NSA or other governmental entity missed it, you can safely assume that your ex is likely to have someone printing the information for use in court.

3. If you are still tempted to post after considering the first two tips, sleep on it. While this is old advice, waiting until the next day to comment or post will rarely hurt your point and may in fact save you in the future.

4. If you do post or comment, make sure that it is truthful and that you can defend it in court.

5. Remember that your reputation is cumulative. How you respond to social media, or what you decide to post initially, reflects upon your character and reputation, which is important to the court in family law cases where the judge often has to make a “credibility call” when hearing evidence.

If you need legal assistance, or for further information about family law, please contact us or call Kennedy, Kennedy, Robbins & Yarbro, LC, at (573) 686-2459. Our commitment is to earn your confidence by answering all questions and providing quality representation.