Digital evidence and divorce in Washington: what is it and what does it mean?

Digital evidence and divorce in Washington: what is it and what does it mean?

Your digital footprints can reveal a lot about your life. If you scroll through the settings on your phone, you may find a growing digital trail of breadcrumbs. Even the most tech-savvy can miss something on their phone that can be utilized as evidence in a divorce or custody case.

Here are a few of the major types of digital evidence and how opposing parties can use them against you:

Location Tagging

Location tagging, often enabled by default on smartphones and social media apps, can provide a detailed account of one’s whereabouts. This is obviously an issue if there are concerns on one side about infidelity, as location tracking can easily build a picture of the people you interact with. However, location tagging can say just as much about where you aren’t as where you are. If there is significant location history of you being out of state or not in attendance at important events for you children, it could impact your custody questions.

Photos

Photos, especially those shared on social media, can be a treasure trove of information in divorce cases. They can provide context, timelines, and sometimes even evidence of undisclosed assets or relationships. One major factor that goes hand-in-hand with location tagging, is the tendency of photo apps to mark where a photo is taken. Even if a picture is otherwise innocent, what you view, and post can often build a large mass of information on where you’ve been. Photo metadata is hard to turn off.

App Usage

There is an app for everything, from encrypted communication to dating. There are even apps that hide the location of apps on the phone. However, in a digital life, anything accessible is findable. Most of your life on an app is recorded in some way. That history can be a major piece of evidence for or against you in many facets of your divorce case.

Be careful of what you share.

Our reliance on apps for communication, transportation, and even fitness can create a comprehensive digital footprint. The rules around using digital evidence and your rights regarding your digital footprint are anything but settled. However, a dedicated, innovative family law attorney will take whatever steps are necessary to help secure your privacy during your divorce.