Yes, Michigan courts can and do consider social media posts when deciding custody and parenting time. Under the 12 best-interest factors in MCL 722.23, a judge can consider any evidence relevant to a parent's moral fitness, judgment, and willingness to co-parent — including Instagram posts, Facebook check-ins, TikTok videos, and text messages. According to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 81% of divorce attorneys have seen an increase in social media evidence in custody cases.
Social media evidence is no longer unusual in Michigan custody proceedings. It is routine. Attorneys on both sides now review the other party's Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter accounts as a standard part of case preparation. According to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), 81% of divorce attorneys report an increase in the use of social media evidence in custody cases, with Facebook cited as the primary source in 66% of cases.
If you are going through a custody dispute in Oakland County or anywhere in Michigan, what you post online can directly affect the outcome. This article explains how social media gets into court, what judges look for, and how to protect yourself.
How Social Media Gets Into Court
Social media content enters custody proceedings through several channels:
Formal discovery. Under the Michigan Court Rules, opposing counsel can request production of social media content. This includes posts, photos, direct messages, comments, and account activity logs. Courts have consistently held that social media content is discoverable when relevant to the issues in the case.
Subpoenas to platforms. Attorneys can subpoena records directly from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms. These records can include account creation dates, login history, posted and deleted content, and direct messages.
Screenshots. The simplest and most common method. The opposing party, mutual friends, or family members capture screenshots of posts and provide them to the attorney. Screenshots are routinely admitted as evidence in Michigan courts.
Friend of the Court investigations. When Oakland County's Friend of the Court conducts a custody investigation, investigators may review publicly available social media as part of their assessment. Posts that contradict statements made during interviews are particularly damaging.
Deleted content is not safe. Screenshots captured before deletion remain admissible. Platform records obtained by subpoena may include content the user believed was deleted. Forensic recovery of deleted content is also possible in some cases.
What Michigan Judges Are Looking for
Michigan custody decisions are governed by the 12 best-interest factors under MCL 722.23. Social media evidence is relevant to several of these factors:
Factor 6 — Moral fitness. Photos showing excessive drinking, drug use, or reckless behavior raise questions about a parent's moral fitness. A series of late-night bar photos during your parenting time tells a story a judge will notice.
Factor 10 — Willingness to facilitate the child's relationship with the other parent. Negative posts about the other parent are among the most damaging evidence in custody cases. A parent who publicly disparages the other parent on social media is demonstrating exactly the opposite of what Factor 10 requires.
Factor 12 — Mental and physical health. Posts that suggest instability, erratic behavior, or substance abuse are relevant to a court's assessment of each parent's capacity to provide a stable environment.
Factor 8 — Reasonable preference of the child. If your child is old enough to have social media access or to see your posts through friends, the content you share can affect their expressed preferences about living arrangements.
**81% of divorce attorneys have seen an increase in the use of social media evidence in custody cases, with Facebook cited as the primary source of evidence in 66% of cases.** — American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML)
The Posts That Will Hurt You
Photos at bars or parties. Even if you were not intoxicated, photos in bar settings during a custody dispute create an inference that opposing counsel will exploit. The question is not whether you were drinking responsibly. The question is whether the judge sees a pattern that concerns them.
Vacation photos while claiming financial hardship. If you are asking the court for support or claiming you cannot afford certain expenses, photos from a resort vacation undermine your credibility. Courts do not respond well to inconsistency between claimed financial circumstances and displayed lifestyle.
New relationship posts. Introducing a new partner on social media during a custody dispute raises questions under the moral fitness factor, particularly if the relationship is recent or if children are being exposed to the new partner. Judges scrutinize how quickly new partners are introduced into children's lives.
Negative posts about the other parent. This is the single most common and most damaging category. Any post criticizing, mocking, or complaining about the other parent can be used to argue that you are unwilling to co-parent cooperatively. Factor 10 is about willingness to facilitate the other parent's relationship with the child. Trashing them on Facebook demonstrates the opposite.
Posts showing children in inappropriate settings. Photos of children at adult events, near alcohol, or in situations that suggest a lack of supervision are powerful evidence.
Geolocation tags contradicting testimony. If you told the court or the Friend of the Court that you were somewhere, and your social media places you somewhere else, you have a credibility problem that extends far beyond the social media post itself.
What NOT to Do
**Do NOT delete posts after litigation has begun.** Deleting social media content after a case is filed can constitute spoliation of evidence. Courts can impose sanctions, draw adverse inferences, or hold you in contempt. The time to clean up your social media was before the case started.
**Do NOT create fake accounts.** Courts and attorneys can discover alternate accounts through device forensics, IP address records, and testimony from mutual contacts.
**Do NOT have friends post on your behalf.** If it can be traced back to you, it will be treated as your content.
**Do NOT screenshot the other party's posts without talking to your attorney first.** Evidence preservation is important, but how you collect it matters. Your attorney can advise on proper documentation methods.
What TO Do
- Stop posting about your personal life. Until your custody matter is resolved, treat every social media platform as a public courtroom. The safest post is no post.
- Lock down your privacy settings. Set all accounts to private. Review your friends and followers lists. Remove people connected to the other party.
- Assume everything is visible to the judge. Privacy settings are not a legal shield. Treat every post, comment, and direct message as if it will be read aloud in court.
- Tell friends and family not to tag you. A friend tagging you at a bar at midnight creates the same evidence as if you posted it yourself.
- Save evidence of the other party's concerning posts. If the other parent is posting content relevant to custody, preserve it properly. Take screenshots with visible dates and timestamps, and share them with your attorney.
- Talk to your attorney before making any social media decisions. If you are unsure whether to post, deactivate, or preserve something, ask first.
The Bottom Line
Social media is not going away, and courts are not going to stop considering it. The 12 best-interest factors give judges broad discretion to consider any evidence relevant to a child's welfare. A single post will rarely decide a case, but a pattern of posts that calls your judgment, fitness, or willingness to co-parent into question can shift the outcome.
The simplest rule: if you would not want a judge to see it, do not post it.
Going Through a Custody Dispute in Michigan?
If you are involved in a custody case in Oakland County or anywhere in Southeast Michigan, what you post online can directly affect the outcome. Jordan Dizik represents parents throughout Oakland County in custody determinations, modifications, and parenting time disputes.
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