Can What I Post On The Internet Affect My Divorce Mediation Result?

You must be careful with what you say and do on social media as it will affect your divorce mediation proceedings in New York and any other State. The fact is, texting, messaging on Facebook, emailing, or any other form of social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Snap, YouTube etc.) or electronic communications such as instant messaging (IM) can be used as ammunition against you in proceedings. Setting your privacy settings won’t keep your posts from being admissible. Deleted posts could have already been recorded when they are live on the web or even recovered later from Servers.

What is some advice we can give you if you are thinking about how posting on the web can impact the results of your mediation? 

  • Avoid posting about your divorce
  • Do not flaunt money
  • Avoid bad-mouthing your spouse or children
  • Avoid any type of posting that could be incriminating or shed negative light on your character (if you have any doubts, don’t post it!)
  • Do not post about extramarital affairs or so on as these could end up working against you. 
  • If your friends tag you in posts of this variety, consider asking them to take it down. 

Keep a low profile and avoid risks! Abstinence is the safest thing to do.

A good way to think about it is to imagine your boss looking at any of your messages or posts, what would they think about them? Having a problematic social media presence will certainly be counterproductive during proceedings. 

Divorce mediation requires collaboration and teamwork from both parties. When someone posts something on their social media that either purposefully or incidentally insults their spouse, they are making the collaborative process more difficult. Your spouse will not want to negotiate with you if they received a message from a friend that you are disparaging them online. You do not need to be best friends with your partner, you do not even need to like them, but you need to work together to ensure everyone’s interests are accounted for and respected. 

We advise consulting with a divorce mediation lawyer to put together a specific strategy and learn the best way to handle and succeed in a mediation. Be careful!

To learn more about divorce mediation in NY, you can set up a consultation with attorney Paul E Rudder by calling (212) 826-9900.