




Social media activity could cost you in divorce

| Feb 22, 2016 | Firm News |

posted in Child Support

on Monday, September 17, 2012.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are known for connecting individuals across the Internet. Friends and family members from Connecticut and elsewhere share pictures and messages with one another that can tell a lot about an individual.

This has not gone unnoticed by authorities and courts throughout the country.

In addition to being used to catch some criminals foolish enough to talk about their crimes on their social networking profiles, social media histories have been used as evidence in child support, child custody and alimony cases.

Family law attorneys have not been left behind by social media sites and the amount of time that it took for them to become part of everyday life. Because of the frequency that people use such sites and the evidential documentation that such usage provides, lawyers have turned to such sites for insight into cases.

In one such case, a man was running a successful personal training business in a state outside of the one where he owed more than $100,000 in child support. Authorities went on his Facebook, filing a search warrant with the social media giant first, and then used information gleaned from the man’s postings to locate him and begin fixing his income so that the back support would be paid.

Experts believe that social media evidence can tell a lot about a person, including specific actions, communications, locations and state of mind. Spousal maintenance, property division and custody schedules can be determined based largely on evidence from such websites.

In one case, evidence from Facebook played against a mother when the father of their children said that she was not properly caring for the kids. Her social media activity showed that she spent a considerable portion of her day playing Farmville and other games, even during periods of time when her children were not making it to school on time.

According to reports, evidence taken from social media is used in hundreds of family law cases each year.