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Family lawyer issues social media warning
A Brisbane-based family lawyer has sounded off some advice to others advising clients who have suffered a relationship breakdown.
Emma Musgrave
Jennifer Hetherington (pictured), from Hetherington Family Law, has issued a warning over the use of social media in family court cases, saying that the guaranteed way clients will lose “is to wage war with [an] ex on social media”.
“This can rebound on people. There are a significant number of cases where social media has been accepted as evidence in parenting cases,” Ms Hetherington said.
“In one Australian case, a mother denied that she had a new partner but her Facebook relationship status (‘engaged’) and posts about her ‘fiancé’ were taken as evidence.
“She claimed that it was just a joke but in cross-examination, when presented with her Facebook post in which she wrote, ‘Whatever looks better for me in Court’, the woman conceded that she would say things to make her case look better.
“In a case I was handling the other side posted details on social media about their new business, while claiming to be unemployed. That certainly helped with the child support investigation.”
Ms Hetherington added that it’s also common to see former partners “fishing on social media to gather evidence on their ex’s, which they can put before the Family Court”.
“My advice is don’t do it,” she said.
“The courts are not giving such tactics any weight and in fact the knowledge that social media can be manipulated only damages the credibility of the person using it against their former partner.
“Don’t use social media for any kind of evidence-gathering process because everything you post is there for all time, and it could rebound on you.”
This, she noted, includes making accusations against the ex-partner.
“A separation process is traumatic, so the important thing is to maintain your integrity. If you go to social media with claims and accusations, the court may feel it undermines your integrity,” she said.
“Uncensored and unvetted social media posts have the risk of conveying unfounded allegations, which can be misrepresented as fact. Just one lie to a social media audience could undermine everything you argue before the court.”
Ms Hetherington provided another example of an Australian reported case, whereby a mother’s Facebook posts were used as evidence to prove her intention to deliberately “run up” the father’s legal costs.
As a result a costs order was made against her, Ms Hetherington said.
“Regard anything you say about your ex-partner as potentially ending up in front of the judge. So think about what you are doing before you make any post on Facebook and Twitter, and the rest of the social media platforms,” she said.
“Angry messages posted on social media forums are out of your control the moment you upload them. Anything you post could come back to haunt you.”
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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