ARTICLE
26 November 2012

Social media in the family law sphere: friend or foe?

BN
Barry Nilsson

Contributor

Barry Nilsson is an award-winning national law firm of more than 550 staff, with offices in all six states. Our Insurance & Health and Family Law, Wills & Estates practices combine extensive industry knowledge with local expertise to deliver trusted, practical advice. We partner with our clients, evolving our services to meet changing needs, while fostering a strong internal culture that supports our people and community. Our Insurance & Health team includes 250+ specialist insurance lawyers advising across all major lines of insurance and a broad range of industries. From policy drafting and claims management to legislative and regulatory advice, we work alongside insurance clients and stakeholders to tailor strategies designed to achieve the best outcomes. Our Family Law, Wills & Estates team provides a full range of family law and estate planning services for local, international, and expatriate clients. We combine expertise with empathy to deliver advice tailored to individual circumstances.
The alert outlines recent examples of social media evidence in court and looks at how Government addresses the issue.
Australia Family and Matrimonial
Barry Nilsson are most popular:
  • within Family and Matrimonial, Energy and Natural Resources and Coronavirus (COVID-19) topic(s)
  • with Senior Company Executives, HR and Finance and Tax Executives
  • with readers working within the Accounting & Consultancy, Automotive and Insurance industries

The complexities of family law cases have never been more obvious than in the context of widespread use of social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Advocates of these social media platforms champion the benefits of such online tools for facilitating parties to communicate in a more convenient way, and allowing the instant exchange of news, pictures and conversations.

However, there are difficulties in regulating this industry, particularly where the appropriate jurisdiction for enforcement is impossible to identify, as it often is in the context of online entities. The difficulties in regulating the content on social media sites is abundantly apparent in family law proceedings, where relationships between parties are inevitably strained and dirty laundry aired publicly.

This short alert outlines some recent examples where social media evidence has been used in court plus looks at what the Government is doing to address this growing issue.

Read the alert.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Mondaq uses cookies on this website. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies as set out in our Privacy Policy.

Learn More