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How Can What I Share Online Impact My Custody or Divorce Case?

Many people share a veritable goldmine of information about their personal lives online. Often, this information is innocuous, such as cute photos of children, pets, recipes, or information about local events. If you are involved in any type of litigation, however, it is important to consider how what you share online could impact your case. There are many ways that what you share online could be used against you.

In divorce and custody cases, it is important to keep any negative statements or commentary of or about your ex-spouse, the other parent, or any other individual involved in your case off of the internet. While it can be tempting to commiserate with others online, and you may think that you have appropriate privacy settings in place, you should always assume that what you share online could leak to someone involved in your case.

If you have children and you share custody of them with their other parent or another caregiver (such as a grandparent, aunt, stepparent, etc.), it is a good idea to be very careful about what you share about the children online. That parent or caregiver may be concerned about the children’s internet presence, so if you’re sharing photos of your children without that other parent or caregiver’s knowledge, that could lead to an uncomfortable situation. There is also the potential for the children’s other parent or caregiver to use anything you share against you. What you see as a funny or cute photo of a child making a mess or showing off a scraped knee could be misinterpreted as the child not being cared for or supervised appropriately.

Some real-life examples of information gleaned from the internet which we have seen others try to use against clients include photos of clients consuming alcohol; status updates showing clients’ locations at a specific time; memes about narcissistic or abusive exes which clients tag with their ex’s names; photos or posts bragging about purchasing expensive cars or other items; and too many other examples to list here.

When you are sharing your life online, always consider how what you are sharing could reflect negatively on you or affect your interests in your case. If you are having an internal debate about whether or not you should post something, it is probably best not to post it.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding online posts and how they may affect your divorce, custody or other matter, that attorneys at Tanner Law Offices can help. Please contact our office at 717-731-8114 to schedule a consultation to discuss your case.