Dance Like No One is Watching; Email Like It
May One Day Be Read Aloud in a Deposition – Olivia Nuzzi
Angry or explicit social media posts, texts or email messages can make for some exciting reading in a child custody or visitation dispute.
However, if you find yourself defending a post or text that you made when you were angry or less than sober, you may wish you could take it back.
You may feel a great relief to finally get it off your chest when you tell your friends on Face Book why you believe your child’s parent is a horrible person or drug or alcohol abuser.
Even better, you may feel justified in sending a string of angry email or text messages to your ex letting them know why they are a bad parent and don’t deserve to ever see their children.
Of course you may have a first amendment right to free speech, but depending on what you say and where you say it, this “speech” can come back to haunt you.
I frequently see copies of social media posts and email or texting rants attached to pleadings in cases requesting court orders concerning child custody/visitation and domestic violence.
Your social media “friends” may also be friends with your ex and will download your snappy little rants, to use against you in court.
Your angry or explicit email or text messages sent directly to your ex may also show up in court papers, if the ex believes it will help them prove their point, for instance, that you are unstable and should not have custody of your children.
Despite warning clients not to do this, I find that people in emotional distress over the breakup of a relationship will lash out in these forums over and over again, only to regret it the next day.
It is not unusual for your children to end up seeing these posts or text messages, either because they are also “friends” with you on this media or because someone else shows them the post.
You’ve been warned. Again.
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