How Social Media Can Impact Your Divorce

Social media has become so integrated into our daily lives that we often share without thinking. During divorce, however, those casual posts, photos, and comments can have serious legal consequences. Understanding how social media is used in divorce cases can help you avoid costly mistakes.

How Social Media Becomes Evidence

In divorce cases, social media content can be:

Subpoenaed through formal discovery
Printed from public profiles
Shared by mutual friends
Captured through screenshots before deletion
Presented to custody evaluators
Admitted as evidence at trial

Even "deleted" content can often be recovered, and private posts may be shared by people on your friends list.

What Your Posts Can Reveal

Financial Information

Posts showing expensive purchases, vacations, or lifestyle can contradict claims about financial need:

**Problematic examples:**
Photos of a new car while claiming you can't afford support payments
Vacation posts when you've said you have no disposable income
Pictures of expensive hobbies or purchases
Check-ins at high-end restaurants or clubs

How it's used: If you're arguing for more support or claiming financial hardship, evidence of spending undermines your credibility.

Parenting Fitness

Social media can provide evidence about your lifestyle and judgment:

**Problematic examples:**
Photos showing drinking or drug use
Posts indicating you were partying when children were in your care
Pictures showing unsafe conditions
Comments about staying out late or neglecting responsibilities
Angry rants about your children or parenting frustrations

How it's used: Custody evaluators and judges may view this evidence when assessing parenting fitness and judgment.

Hidden Assets or Income

Posts can reveal assets or income you haven't disclosed:

**Problematic examples:**
Photos of expensive jewelry, vehicles, or property
Posts about side businesses or freelance work
Evidence of rental properties or investments
Pictures of valuable collections or purchases

How it's used: If your financial disclosures don't match your social media lifestyle, you could face serious consequences for failing to disclose assets.

Character and Credibility

Your online behavior reflects on your character:

**Problematic examples:**
Angry posts about your spouse
Threatening or harassing messages
Crude or inappropriate content
Evidence of infidelity or new relationships
Complaints about your children or parenting responsibilities

How it's used: Opposing counsel can use this evidence to portray you negatively to the court or custody evaluator.

Real Consequences We've Seen

Without identifying details, here are examples of how social media has affected real divorce cases:

The Hidden Income Case: A spouse claimed to be unemployed but posted about their cash-based business on Instagram. The posts showed significant inventory and customer orders, leading to imputed income and higher support obligations.

The Parenting Judgment Case: A parent fighting for more custody posted photos of themselves partying on a night they claimed to be home with the children. The other parent's attorney obtained the posts, which included timestamps and geolocation data.

The Credibility Case: A spouse denied being in a new relationship but was tagged in romantic photos by their new partner. This undermined their testimony on multiple issues.

The Lifestyle Case: Someone seeking significant spousal support posted about expensive vacations, designer purchases, and luxury experiences—while telling the court they couldn't support themselves.

Best Practices During Divorce

What to Stop Posting

During your divorce, avoid posting:

Anything about your divorce, spouse, or legal proceedings
Photos of purchases, vacations, or expensive activities
Content that could reflect poorly on your parenting
Relationship status updates or photos with new partners
Venting or emotional posts about your situation
Anything you wouldn't want read aloud in court

Privacy Measures

Take these protective steps:

**Adjust privacy settings** to limit who can see your posts
**Review your friends list** and consider removing mutual connections
**Turn off location services** on your social media apps
**Disable tagging** so others can't tag you without approval
**Google yourself** to see what's publicly available

What About Deleting Posts?

This is complicated:

Deleting relevant evidence could be considered spoliation
Once litigation starts, you have a duty to preserve evidence
Deleted content can often be recovered anyway
Ask your attorney before deleting anything

The safest approach: Don't post anything problematic in the first place.

Monitor for Fake Accounts

In some cases, a spouse may create fake accounts to:

Friend you to access your posts
Monitor your activity
Gather evidence through mutual friends

Be cautious about accepting new friend requests during your divorce.

What About Your Spouse's Social Media?

You may be tempted to monitor your spouse's social media or try to access their accounts. Be careful:

**What you CAN do:**
View publicly available content
Save screenshots of public posts
Ask mutual friends if they've seen concerning content

**What you should NOT do:**
Access their accounts without permission
Hack into their devices or accounts
Create fake profiles to friend them
Have someone else access their accounts for you

Illegally obtained evidence is not only inadmissible—it could result in criminal charges or sanctions against you.

Social Media and Children

Additional considerations when children are involved:

Don't post photos of children during custody disputes without considering the implications
Don't post complaints about custody arrangements or the other parent
Be aware that older children may see your posts
Don't discuss parenting disputes online

Moving Forward

The best advice for social media during divorce is simple: assume everything you post will be seen by the judge and opposing counsel. If you wouldn't want it read aloud in court, don't post it.

This doesn't mean you have to disappear from social media entirely. But it does mean being thoughtful about what you share until your divorce is finalized.

If you're concerned about social media evidence in your divorce case—whether your own posts or your spouse's—[contact us](/schedule) to discuss how to handle this issue in your specific situation.