неделя, 18 януари 2015 г.

Does Social Media Affect My Divorce?

By Megan Sheppard


Ever since MySpace and Facebook launched on the Internet, an ever growing amount of the population has turned to social media to share everything from pictures to status updates. Even here at Minick Law, P.C. in Gastonia, NC, we use a variety of social media websites and applications to connect with prospective, current, and past clients. However, with this rampant use of social media, how much sharing is too much? Specifically, how can social media affect my divorce?

With the growing use of social media, many people believe that the information they post is private and limited to the people that they share it with. Although this seems like a logical conclusion, in reality, the exact opposite is true. For the most part, everything you post or share is easily accessible with the right expertise and tools. Additionally, most Terms of Use on social media websites state that information shared on social media is not yours to own and is not considered private.

These "terms of use" and their public nature apply also to the divorce process. Many people turn to social media when they're going through divorce because it truly is an emotional and stressful process. So, they use social media to vent, to seek advice, and, often, to speak negatively about their spouse. This last one can carry with it serious consequences. Negative posts, explicit or incriminating images, and many other types of material are found, saved, and brought up in court. This kind of information can be detrimental to you in your divorce case.

Social media has also become an effective tool for divorce lawyers to gather evidence of affairs by one of the spouses. Not only can social media show information about the different potential lovers a spouse may have through their friends list, but it can also find incriminating information including: pictures, locations the spouse has visited, and status updates that may show that a spouse was lying about their activities.

Social media can and does bring us together, yes. But it's important to remember that the information you post or share on there is public information. You should adopt the attitude that everything you post online could one day show back up in your life-especially in the courtroom. As a general rule, you should avoid posting negative things about anyone, especially spouses, because it could be used against you in your divorce, separation, alimony or child custody case.




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