Social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like – is not going anywhere. It is now firmly rooted as an accepted and, for some, indispensible part of our interconnections with others. The mechanism will evolve (or devolve, depending on your view) and the companies may change, but for the foreseeable future at least, we will continue to post and tweet and poke.
In a family law context, a client’s social media trail is generally an anathema. It is a relatively permanent and immutable record, and when someone is going through the difficulties and confusion of a breakup, that record is rarely one which reflects well. Posts about an ex, about children or about the situation in general are all potentially compellable as evidence. Even if the client him or herself is maintaining absolute control over his or her posts, that control does not regulate the posts of friends and well-wishers.
In almost every case, the best course is the one which is becoming harder and harder: abstain from all social media when you are dealing with a family law dispute or divorce. It is inconvenient, annoying and, really, not fun at all. But it generally is for the best
