Board Certified Family Law Specialist Matt Arnold answers the question: “Should I delete old posts or censor new posts while going through a divorce?”
Divorce is difficult. Suddenly, two people who have spent a portion of their lives, regardless of how long or short of a time, together are deciding to end their marriage and separate. Due to the personal nature of divorce, conflict and emotions can run high. It can be difficult to split up assets, reach a custody agreement, and come to a mutual decision on the best division of property. Each side wants what they want and will present evidence to help them get it. One type of evidence that is commonly used in divorce proceedings that you might not expect is social media posts. Social media can have a negative impact on your divorce. The following are some guidelines to social media to consider during divorce proceedings in North Carolina.
When a couple decides to get divorced, their first thought might not be to update their social media settings. You might change your email, “unfriend” your spouse on various social media platforms, or maybe even update your relationship status to single, but you might not think to update privacy settings. While nothing is ever truly “private” on the internet, you can take steps to maximize your privacy settings. Be aware of who can contact you, interact with you, and even just observe your social media activity. If you are going through a divorce, be wary of friend requests from people you do not know and making public comments about the divorce proceedings.
Avoid Talking About Divorce
One of the biggest appeals of social media is the ability to interact with friends and family almost instantaneously, regardless of where they are located around the world. Divorce is news you likely want to share with friends and family, but it is best to keep that information off of social media. You do not want your soon to be ex-spouse to find a way to use your discussions about the divorce in a negative way.
In addition to you, yourself, not making posts about divorce, avoid interacting with anyone at all about the divorce. An innocent comment could come across as disparaging and be used against you. Do not engage in conversation about your ex-spouse, or with them, on social media.
Monitor Your Content
While social media platforms allow you to post the content you want, be cautious about what you are posting during a divorce. North Carolina is an equitable distribution state. This means that property is equitably distributed. Posts about assets or wealth could infer that you are hiding assets to be divided during divorce.
Finally, be wary of posting pictures or other evidence of lifestyle choices a judge might not look too kindly upon for child custody. Of course, a picture does not indicate what type of parent a person might be, but judges use evidence of all sorts to determine custody.
The family law attorneys at Arnold & Smith, PLLC are here to answer your questions surrounding divorce and help get you a positive resolution. We know that divorce is difficult and we do everything we can to make it easy on you and your family. Contact us today for a consultation. If you find yourself facing a complicated family law matter and need the help of experienced family-law attorneys in or around Charlotte, Lake Norman, or our new office in Monroe (by appointment only until spring 2019), please contact Arnold & Smith, PLLC today at (704) 370-2828 or find additional resources here.
The family law practice group at Arnold & Smith, PLLC includes two Board-Certified Family Law specialists and one Child Welfare Law specialist, as well as several attorneys with many years of family law experience that are committed to providing a powerful voice to individuals facing the often-tumultuous issues in this area of law. The range of issues our family law clients may be facing include pre- and post-nuptial agreements; separation agreements; post-separation support; child support (both temporary and permanent); absolute divorce; divorce from bed and board; military divorce; equitable distribution of assets; child custody (both temporary and permanent); retirement benefits and divorce; alimony and spousal support; adoption; and emancipation. Because this area of the law is usually emotionally charged and complicated, the family law attorneys at Arnold & Smith, PLLC act with the utmost dedication to ensure that each client understands his or her options, and then act to achieve the best result possible for that client’s particular situation.
Source:
https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_50/GS_50-20.html
https://www.ncbar.org/media/209956/child-custody-visitation-and-child-support.pdf
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https://www.freeimages.com/photo/printglobal-seo-services-1633271
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