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Maryland divorce attorney: Social media sinks contentious divorces - News
If a divorce is contentious, a spouse’s digital footprint will almost certainly come into play, according to a Maryland attorney.
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If a divorce is contentious, a spouse’s digital footprint will almost certainly come into play, according to a Maryland attorney.
Roughly half of first marriages in the U.S. end in divorce, and if the divorce is contentious, a spouse’s digital footprint will almost certainly come into play.
Divorce attorneys are increasingly using e-discovery as evidence in divorce cases. Almost everything that people post on social media along with information that’s sent or received by smartphone can be uncovered, revealing facts that would not otherwise be divulged.
Social media postings play a big part in divorce court cases, especially for things like alimony and child support.
“You see that they are buying expensive cars, or they’re traveling to very nice resorts, or going to all these very expensive sports events. That really doesn’t play well if you end up in court and are saying, ‘I don’t have any money,’” said family law attorney Sara Donohoe at Rockville, Maryland-based law firm Stein Sperling.
Child custody is another area where social media postings can sink a spouse’s case.
“When someone comes in and says they want 50/50 custody of their children, that’s wonderful,” Donohoe said. “But if they’re always traveling and it’s clear that they are not available and they are posting stuff on all of their travels, that is a really problem for them.”
Social media has also become a hotbed of evidence of infidelity in divorce hearings, even if the spouse thinks they have been careful. Postings from the boyfriend or girlfriend can be used as evidence in e-discovery. So can postings from friends who may have tagged a spouse in telltale images.
E-discovery extends well beyond social media posts on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. It can include emails, texts and even internet history and app usages.
“They have become the bedrock of trials now,” Donohoe said. “You can be in a three-day custody trial now, and a lot of it is spent showing the other side things they wrote that were nasty, insensitive or indicate they are not properly co-parenting, and then you are showing that evidence to the judge.”
While most of this information is readily accessible, e-discovery can go much deeper in some contentious divorce cases, including smartphone tracking that keeps a detailed history of where it has been, how often it has been at those locations, and dates of those visits.
That data is not necessarily considered to be private information in court cases, and Donohoe said any law firm with the know-how to navigate the e-discovery process can unearth it.
Deleting histories, chats and social media postings before heading into divorce proceedings is not a good idea either.
“I’m not the lawyer who is going to say, ‘Take it down,’” Donohoe said. “I think that can lead to other problems later if you get into litigation, and you have deleted potential evidence.”
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