Divorcing Couples Warned About the Dangers of Social Media

Family experts have warned couples that are going through a divorce or are beginning proceeding to stay away from using social media due to the number of issues it can cause.

Consensus Collaboration Scotland has warned that social media posts could affect the financial and emotional outcome of any split, urging those obtaining a divorce to be careful with their social media posts.

Danger of Social Media

Consensus Collaboration Scotland, a network that promotes divorce and separation with minimum conflict believes that couples should take a break from social media when going through a divorce.

A member of the organisation, Anne-Marie Douglas, stated that couples who’ve split should take a break from social media warning that what is posted on social media is increasingly contributing to marriage break-ups. Furthermore, she also stated that when do separate or divorce it could affect the financial and emotional outcome of the split.

She said: “We would advise couples going through a divorce or separation to log out of all your profiles and take a break from social media activity while you go through the process.

“We appreciate that this isn’t always possible or practical. If you do continue to use social media websites and online chat apps while you’re getting divorced or separated, we would suggest caution, discretion and good judgement.”

“Social media and online activity also provide a digital time stamp. It could provide a potential trail of evidence that may be hard to explain away. What you post, like and tweet could lead to conflict, affect the financial outcome, and cause emotional damage, both for you and your children.”

She warned that many people attempted to disclose information during divorce proceedings, but were then exposed due to the use of social media, such as updating their Linkedin job title. She also warned that while having confidentiality settings in place on sites such as Facebook, it was still possible for information to be passed on through common friends or connections.

Consensus Collaboration Scotland warned those going through a divorce to be careful about what was posted on social media and to not publically accuse a former partner of anything that could be used against them in court. They also urged those obtaining a divorce to update privacy policies and not to post items that may be damaging in court.

Obtaining a Divorce: Grounds for Divorce Scotland

Obtaining a divorce can be an exceptionally difficult and stressful time for all involved, however, at Macnairs and Wilson, we aim to make a painful experience as simple and straightforward as possible.

In Scotland, there are two grounds for divorce. Either that:

• the marriage has broken down irretrievably
• one of the partners to the marriage has an interim gender recognition certificate.

If you are getting divorced on the grounds that your marriage has broken down, you or your partner will have to show that the marriage no longer exists. This can be done by showing that the marriage no longer exists, citing:

• that your partner has behaved unreasonably
• adultery
• you've lived apart for at least one year, and you both agree to the divorce
• you've lived apart for at least two years, but one of you doesn’t agree to the divorce.

Contact our Divorce Lawyers Paisley & Glasgow

If you wish to begin divorce proceedings or if you wish to speak to our team of expert solicitor about going through a divorce, contact our team of expert solicitor using our online contact form.