Please revisit Holly Moore’s blog titled “How Facebook Can Win or Lose Your Custody Case“!
In this day and age rarely is there a person who does not partake in Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or some social networking website. Often times you will find a persons “profile” with pictures, comments and the like about what is going on in their current life. You may have even heard about how a persons interaction with a social networking site can affect getting hired or a job or in some cases, getting fired from a job, but have you thought about how this can come into play if you are involved in custody litigation?
Custody litigation, in a nutshell, is about proving who is the better parent, often times this is litigated by discussing or proving what a parent does in their social time, who they expose their children to, and what type of role model they are for their children. All of the above may be showcased on the social networking sites.
LItigants often do not think twice about posting pictures of themselves partying or posting comments about the past weekends events, that if heard about in a court of law, in front of a judge who will be deciding their parental fate, they may not be as proud of.
A recent example was a case where the mother of the children professed in her court papers to be a “loving, involved, Christian, soccer mom-type”. However her Facebook profile painted quite a different picture, with risque pictures of her partying, using drugs and being promiscuous. After this evidence was introduced she lost a significant amount of custodial time with her children.
Litigants must be aware that when you are involved in custody litigation your lifestyle and parental skills are on display and that needs to be kept in mind in every facet of your life. You should behave on the social networking sites as if the Judge is reading every comment you post, and picture you post. If you know that the opposing party has relevant information that may be helpful to you on a social networking site you must print it right away. It is very easy to change or delete pictures, comments etc and once this occurs the evidence is gone.
If you are involved in custody litigation and would like to consult an attorney on the issue call Moore Family Law Group at (951) 463-5594.