Jennifer Barbaris Fortunato Divorce Law Blog on Lawyers.com

The Internet & Divorce: A Dangerous Combination

Tuesday, August 7, 2012 by Jennifer Barbaris Fortunato

The Internet can be a dangerous place if you are going through a divorce, or even after your divorce is finalized.

When you post personal information to social media websites such as, Facebook, Linked In, or Twitter, or if you decide to write a personal blog, any of this personal information, pictures or beliefs becomes public knowledge. It can be used against you by your spouse or former spouse during your divorce proceedings and even after you are divorced. In fact, you may be required to provide a copy of your Facebook page and all of its history or other website information as part of the discovery process to your spouse or former spouse’s attorney. Even internet dating websites can be used against you.

Some examples of how the Internet can be you against you by your spouse or former spouse are as follows:

If you have claimed that you cannot pay your alimony or child support because of lack of monies, the fact that you brag about how much money you have and/or earn on your Facebook page or you indicate that you having been buying expensive items or taking a lot of the vacations can be used against you.
If you admit you earn cash (money you do not report) on your Facebook page, your spouse or former spouse can use this information to show that you earn more than the income you report on your income tax returns when the amount of support (alimony and/or child support) is at issue.
If you post on your Facebook page pictures of yourself at various bars drinking or post as to how intoxicated you were or brag about how much partying you have been doing, this can be used against you by your spouse or former spouse in his or her attempt to take physical custody of your children away from you and/or seek that you have less parenting time or supervised parenting time.
If you are receiving alimony and you post on your Facebook page detail information regarding your relationship with another person this can be used against you by your spouse or former spouse when he or she seeks to terminate alimony based on you cohabitating with another person.

The moral of this story is that if you cannot stop the urge to post, blog or provide personal information on the Internet, remember that this information may be used against you one day. You need to be very careful what you post online.

Posted at 09:26 AM

Topic: Divorce