Ouch! Your Kid’s Soical Media Can Hurt YOU!

We always tell our clients to be careful with their social media posts. But we seldom think about what their child might post.

In a non family law case where the parent had won a settlement, the child’s post on Facebook days later caused the parent’s settlement to be voided.

Ouch!

You see, Patrick Snay, the former headmaster of a school in Florida, had sued the school (Gulliver) for discrimination, and had agreed to an $80,000 settlement. And one of the terms of the settlement was CONFIDENTIALITY or non disclosure.

Such non disclosure provisions are common in litigation; they are also common in Divorce and Custody cases. But that is for another day.

Snay’s daughter posted the following to her 1200+ Facebook friends “Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT.”

Through some of her 1200 friends, the post made its way back to Gulliver’s officials and lawyers, who asserted that the post violated the confidentiality provisions of the agreement, and should void the agreement.

And the agreement was set aside by a court of appeals.

So be careful what you tell your child about your personal business–especially if the child is active in social media!

There are potential lessons for a family law case here. The Dallas Divorce Courts’ Standing Orders and Temporary Injunctions issued in a divorce or other family law case have provisions that prevent either parent from involving the children in the divorce. The best parents in a divorce rehearse with a counselor how to tell the kids about the divorce, and tell them that the divorce is not about them, that both parents love them, and both parents are committed to make the transition to two households as smooth as possible. And give support to the kids during the process, but not much opinion.

In other cases, one or both parents flame the other parent repeatedly in front of the children because of their anger or other issues that the parent has. many times such bad acts are brought before the Court, and dealt with in ways that are not liked by the flamers. I have seen sanctions all the way to a change of custody. An example of a flame could be: “We can’t go to the movie tomorrow because your Daddy spent all the child support money on his [girlfriend][drugs][gambling] [boyfriend] [you pick–you get the point].

News Source: www.MiamiHerald.com