Divorce Attorney Explains Why Social Media Is Dangerous in Court

Your social media posts may be destroying your credibility in court without you even realizing it.

In this episode of Monday Madness, certified family law specialist Andrew Rosenberry explains how Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms are increasingly being used as evidence in divorce, custody, and spousal support cases.

Many people believe they can appear one way in court while posting a completely different lifestyle online. But judges, attorneys, and opposing parties are paying attention to your digital footprint — and your posts, photos, comments, and videos can become powerful evidence against you.

In this episode, Andrew shares a real family law case where a party claimed physical disability in order to receive spousal support, but social media posts showing skydiving, golfing, and other physical activities completely undermined those claims. The case ultimately resulted in the loss of spousal support after records were subpoenaed from a skydiving company.

Topics covered include:
• How social media is used in divorce court
• Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok evidence in family law
• Why social media can destroy credibility in court
• Spousal support fraud and online evidence
• What judges think about social media posts
• Digital evidence in custody battles
• Why deleting posts can create legal problems
• Social media mistakes during divorce
• Friends sharing your posts with the opposing party
• Protecting yourself online during family court proceedings

Andrew also explains why your social media should become a “ghost town” during litigation and why deleting existing content may be considered destruction of evidence.

If you are going through a divorce, custody battle, or family law dispute, this episode explains why every photo, caption, story, comment, and post matters more than you think.

"You can be perfectly behaved in court, but if your Instagram says otherwise, you've already lost credibility. Welcome to Monday Madness. My name is Andrew Rosenberry, and I am a certified family law specialist in the Southern California area. And today we are talking about social media as your silent witness in court.

People often vent on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or post celebration photos that directly contradict their testimony or appearance about their lifestyle or fitness as a parent. In a formal environment like your digital footprint is treated as a window into your true character. I recently had a case where the opposing party was receiving spousal support from my client. And the reason why that person wasn't working was based upon a claim that they were physically disabled. Now, the social media showed otherwise.

The social media showed that person skydiving, golfing multiple rounds multiple times per week. Because of the social media posting with regard to the skydiving, I was able to send a subpoena to the skydiving company for records regarding this individual. Now, when you go skydiving, you have to sign documents for the company that evidence you have no physical limitations and you have actually consulted with a doctor.

And I was able to receive those documents and provide them to the court. As you can imagine, that person lost their spousal support entirely. One thing to consider with regard to your social media is who is on your friends list. You can have friends that you don't even remember are on your list. They may be aligned with the other person. What a surprise it is when you get a pleading from the opposing party and it has all of your social media postings that you thought you had blocked them from.

As a final tip, during a case, your social media should be ghost town. Don't give the other side a weapon you built yourself. Now, this does not mean you should erase what is currently on your social media. You are not permitted to destroy evidence. The tip is you don't need to create more."