Family Law

San Jose Divorce Attorney Discusses Internet Posting and Custody Battles

By Scott Sagaria

San Jose Divorce Attorney Discusses Internet Postings and Custody Battles

It is understandable that people going through a divorce will want to vent their frustrations about their soon to be ex spouse to friends and family. However, in the electronic age it may also be too easy to voice that frustration to the world through the Internet. It is important to remember that anything you say that is disparaging about your ex can come back to hurt you in court, especially in a custody battle.

Tricia Walsh Smith has garnered national attention after she uploaded a video on YouTube where she aired the dirty laundry of her husband in the middle of their divorce proceedings. An Internet search will also find blogs where people are venting their frustrations about their separated spouses. Some of these Internet postings have led to civil suits alleging defamation by the spouse who is being written about. You can also guarantee that these types of postings will be brought into the family court as evidence in the event of a custody dispute.

In California the Court will consider which parent is more likely to facilitate contact with the non-custodial parent when deciding which parent should have primary custody. If one parent is more likely to disparage the other parent or try to alienate the child from the other parent that person could lose custody of the child. Therefore these public Internet postings could be used as evidence that the person public attacking the other parent would not facilitate a close relationship between the child and the other parent. That may in fact not be true, because the poster may never say the things that are posted in front of the child but the evidence could be very damaging because if it comes down to credibility the poster will have seriously damaged their credibility in the eyes of a Judge.

Our team of experienced family law attorneys are very knowledgeable about custody and visitation disputes and would be happy to speak with you for a free consultation in this area or in any other family law matter. We have offices in Monterey, San Jose, and Fremont where we would be happy to meet with you at your convenience.

Full post as published by California Family Law Blog on March 05, 2008 (boomark / email).