Texas residents who are planning a divorce may be interested in an article detailing some of the common mistakes that spouses make. Many of these involve the misuse of social media and other traceable data.

Every time a spouse fills out a credit card or loan application sends an email or posts on Facebook, they are creating a trail of data that can potentially be used against them. Attorneys recommend that spouses looking at a divorce be civil and think twice before they create a permanent record of anything. For example, if a spouse puts financial information on a credit card application, this could be used against them when they ask for spousal support. Often, people put inflated income numbers on applications like this, which could end up being very costly.

Spouses who use social networks could also run into trouble regarding support payments. If a spouse claims that they do not have a lot of money, but posts show vacation photos and other glamorous moments, this could seriously impact the amount of support they are awarded. Blocking the other spouse and their acquaintances from specific social media information may not help, either. There are many ways for that spouse to get possession of seemingly private information, whether through creating a fake account or getting other friends to take screenshots of the incriminating evidence.

Attorneys caution against deleting any harmful posts that may end up on social networks. This, they say, could constitute destroying evidence and could be more trouble than just leaving the post up.

Many spouses may find the help of a family law attorney useful in sorting out these and other divorce matters. The attorney may be able to review the spouse’s social media usage and help to spot any serious problems.

Source: The Huffington Post, “The Divorce Mistakes You Don’t Even Know You’re Making“, Taryn Hillin, March 18, 2014