Divorce lawyers nationwide are heeding the advice of Cordell & Cordell attorneys and warning clients to stay off Facebook and other social media when going through a divorce, according to the St. Charles Suburban Journal.

The paper interviewed Cordell & Cordell co-founder Joseph Cordell about one of “The 10 Stupidest Mistakes Men Make When Facing Divorce“: revealing too much on the Internet.

“Our average person could not afford to hire a private detective to run around willy-nilly in the hope that over several days he might stumble upon something,” Cordell told the paper. “Now you have a relatively low-paid clerk who is a crack user of the Internet. They can go in and find things that even the lawyers can’t find.”

Cordell said one of the first things Cordell & Cordell lawyers want to know from their clients is how they and their soon-to-be-ex use the Internet.

Cordell gave examples of the dangers of posting damaging information online:

A wife posts online that since her ex, named Sam, has been ordered to continue to pay the mortgage and utilities she’s opened the windows and run the air conditioning during the summer.

“She wrote that she was paying for it with her ‘Sam’s card,'” he said.

Another woman who swears in court she doesn’t drink posts a photo of herself with a child in one arm and a bottle of Jose Cuervo in the other.

Judges are not pleased when this information is brought to light, and family law judges have far-reaching latitude in the information they review, Cordell & Cordell attorney Kristin Zurek said.

Cordell also warned about those who try to trick their spouses by setting up fake profiles to glean insider information.

“If you think that in family court the end justifies the means, you’re wrong,” Cordell says. “Judges, quite frankly, are interested in the means.”

Read more: No need for a private eye; divorce combatants post damaging info themselves

Sharing is caring!