Social media can be a land mine when used in the wrong way during family law matters. In our latest article in The District Reporter we discuss some tips of what not to do if you have a family law matter on foot.
Step away from your phone and come out with your hands up
Social media is so engrained in our lives that as family lawyers we often see it rear its ugly head as an issue in proceedings.
So how do people come unstuck due to social media in family law matters?
The first way is under section 121 of the Family Law Act 1975(Cth). This section makes it a punishable offence to publish details of family law proceedings or to publish information that can identify a party, a child or a witness in a family law matter, subject to some strict exceptions. If convicted, a person can be imprisoned for up to 12 months.
The second way, given the social aspect of ‘social media’, is that litigants who aren’t shy of a post or two can sometimes find their own work used against them as evidence in proceedings. As one Federal Circuit Court Judge said social media is “a veritable Aladdin’s Cave” which Judges (and lawyers) readily and regularly explore for (invariably incriminating) “evidence” to be used in litigation”.
Here are some tips for you on social media use if you have a family law matter on foot:
-
It is best not to insult the judge hearing your matter, or to criticise the solicitor for the other side, the family consultant, or the family report writer. Once these sorts of comments appear in print, such as on Facebook or a call, let alone in Court proceedings are on. This is what not one but three litigants have done in the matter of Whitehouse & Whitehouse (2015).
-
Spellcheck, spellcheck, spellcheck! If you have felt the embarrassment of mixing up “there” and “their” in the past, you will probably squirm in your chair at this next case.
In the matter of Longford & Byrne [2015] FCCA 2504, Judge Harman of the Federal Circuit Court, after replicating various posts of the father where he referred to proceedings and to the mother, noted the following: “I have identified above the misspellings of the father as he appears unable to understand the difference between the possessive adjective and the descriptive noun and consistently inappropriately uses ‘there’ instead of ‘their’ and other similar difficulty with contractions. The father’s time might perhaps be better invested in improvement of spelling and grammar than in the postings to Facebook that he makes.”
-
If you are seeking to claim financial hardship as part of your case, consider sticking to water. That is what the husband in the matter of Saleeby & Moon (2015) should have done. In this matter the husband claimed hardship. The response wife submitted posts from the husband’s Instagram showing he had taken a recent trip to Cannes and Monaco, and had bought a $2,000 dog. He had taken the dog for grooming followed by a nice bucket of Dom Perignon Champagne, captioning a photo with the words “Mum is going down well. Until they are on to her and she goes. I’ll give them up the dates”. That engagement bespeaks economic hardship on the part of the husband unless they are offering the poor pup up for auction.
In all seriousness, social media can create an absolute hot bed of issues in family law matters. So our number 1 tip to you on social media use is simple – STEP AWAY FROM THE PHONE! Keep your feed strictly for photos of food and cute pets.
