Social media contraband

We are all aware that technology is increasingly affecting both business and personal legal issues. Most recently, the invasiveness of social media has been challenged, not only in terms of personal privacy, but also in the case of relationship breakdown.

My firm is now finding itself warning couples to ban Facebook and Twitter and other social media from their lives, or at least use caution, if they don’t want to have future issues in divorce cases.

Just recently we have seen a new phenomenon in the family law division, that is to say an increase in couples now including social media clauses in their prenuptial or post-nuptial agreements. The trend started in the US with the Kayne West/Kim Kardashian prenup but has been quickly adopted in the UK.

The simple reason for including such clauses is the serious damage that social media can now pose to reputation and, therefore, a person’s finances.

However, social media issues in divorce are not new, or limited to US cases. In 2012, divorce lawyers surveyed by Divorce-online UK said that Facebook was implicated in a third of all divorce filings the previous year.

As divorce lawyers, we know that prenuptial agreements have historically not been considered legally binding in the UK but that our courts do recognise them as potentially enforceable under British divorce law, following the 2010 case of heiress Katrin Radmacher.

Social media needs to be discussed with all clients, or at least all who are economically active as its use can have a serious impact on anyone with a professional or business reputation to maintain; quite simply, irresponsible posts or tweets could cause irrevocable career or business damage.

Look at recruitment consultants and headhunters, many of whom are now required by employers to undertake social media searches to vet an applicant; any negative feedback can prevent an application from progressing.

As an aside, an unflattering snap taken on honeymoon may not have quite the same warm glow post-separation. When a relationship ends, the last thing you need is unwanted personal photos appearing in public domains.

Hidden assets

Additionally, couples need to remember that using social media can also often provide a partner with clues to hidden assets. Friends may find their loyalties become divided in a relationship breakdown, favouring one spouse over another. This is when they may use social media to report information about the financial status of one of the individuals concerned.

Although you can block your spouse from seeing your posts directly, through online activity carried out by mutual ‘friend’s, they can still see if he or she is enjoying splashing their cash on their new partner by taking them on a round-the-world cruise, or whether they have posted up photos of that new Ferrari that they have just ordered.

Most importantly, this is all evidence that can be used in court. As a family lawyer, we advise our clients to play it safe and not put anything in an email or a text message – and certainly not online – if it is possible that it can be read by the former partner or the judge.

As lawyers are well aware, if a partner lies about their finances in divorce proceedings, it is strictly illegal and they could well be caught out
by social media.

A stock piece of advice to our clients, therefore, is simply not to post, tweet or share anything online that they wouldn’t actually say in public.

Katy Barber is a senior solicitor at Moore Blatch