Protecting Your Privacy During Divorce

Going through a divorce or custody proceeding means that intimate details of your life will be poured out for attorneys and a judge to see and hear. Not just financial documents, but also the everyday interactions between you and your family members, your habits, and your vices could all be discussed on paper and in testimony during court hearings. Family law is simply an intrusive process, as it the nature of the court case is to unwind family relationships. There are some important steps you will want to take to try to protect your privacy during the divorce process.

The most straightforward way to maintain privacy is to never have to go to trial. The vast majority of family law cases are settled out of court, and maintaining privacy is one of the reasons for this. If you settle at mediation, this means you will never have to testify against your spouse about the workings of your marriage or our assets. Any statements you make at mediation will never be public record, as statements at a divorce hearing would be. Preventing the testimony from happening in the first place is the easiest way to stay private.

In some cases, you could ask the court to seal your file. Typically, divorce filings are public record, meaning anyone can go to the court house and look up your case and read anything that was filed with the court. In some cases, your attorney may be able to ask the court to seal the case, making it impossible for just anyone to read the case file.

In addition to maintaining your privacy with respect to the public, you should think about maintaining your privacy with respect to your spouse. If you share a computer with your spouse, make sure that your passwords for email or social media are not saved on the computer or auto-populated. Although it could be possible for your spouse to get in trouble for going into your email account without your permission, it is easier to just take steps from preventing this from happening at all. You should also check the privacy settings on your social media accounts. Allowing your accounts to remain open to the public, you make it easy for your spouse to track your moves and keep an eye on your daily activities.

Privacy is a commodity that should be closely guarded, especially when there is a court case going on. at (732) 529-6937 to talk about your case and what steps you should take to protect yourself.