Think Before You Tweet

If you have a child who is subject to a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage or Final Judgment Establishing Paternity and Parental Responsibility, then you were likely ordered by the Court to refrain disparaging the other parent in the presence of your child. Children have the right to never hear a parent, or a relative or friend of a parent, run down or degrade the other parent. Venting about your ex on social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter is no exception. Social media sites have become a significant part of many people’s daily lives and are often the forum where parents vent their negative feelings about their exes. What you post online never goes away. Eventually your children will have their own social media accounts. They will learn to tweet and will have access to see, firsthand, what was written about their mother or father, that is, if they do not hear about what was posted from someone else beforehand. Even negative comments about your ex from your online friends and followers on your social media pages should be discouraged. Seeing or hearing about such comments are not in the best interests of the child, can be hurtful and could result in parental alienation.

If you are violating your Final Judgment by making disparaging comments about your ex online or otherwise, you could potentially face contempt of court charges. Keep in mind, one of the factors that courts consider when determining parental responsibility for children is which parent is more likely to foster a loving relationship between the child and the other parent. Disparaging comments about the other parent, whether online or in person, could ultimately be the deciding factor in which the court determines to grant parental responsibility to the victimized parent.

Be cautious with your tweets and posts. Remember, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Once you have posted a status, comment or tweet online, it is out there forever. You cannot “un-ring the bell”, so to speak. Even if you delete it, it is forever out there, still discoverable and could be used against in a custody dispute. If you had made any negative or disparaging comments, your best course of action to correct the matter is to apologize.