How should I handle my digital presence when we divorce?

 Posted on February 17, 2021 in Divorce

At least 50% of Americans who marry end up getting divorced. While many divorcing couples understand that they'll have to divide their tangible marital assets such as houses, furniture or cars when they divorce, they seldom discuss what becomes of their digital ones.

It's essential that divorcing spouses take steps to protect their online presence, though.

Digital assets you may need to address during your divorce

One of the first things that you should do after splitting from your spouse is to create an inventory of any online accounts that you two may have shared. You'll then want to go through and update all of their passwords.

You may want to start by updating the passwords that you typically accessed on shared or synched devices. You may also want to clear their cache or factory reset them so stored passwords or commonly visited websites aren't accessible. You'll want to be careful that the new password that you use isn't too predictable since it's likely that your ex will know your typical go-to ones. You may even benefit from using a random password generation tool in such instances.

Make sure that you and your spouse shut down any joint social media accounts that you share. You may also want to take time to update your relationship status and remove any photos or comments about one another on any individual social media accounts that you two may have. You may want to update your security settings to maintain your privacy as you adapt to your new normal as well.

You and your soon-to-be-ex may need to have negotiations about the transfer of any joint monetized social media accounts such as YouTube, TikTok or Instagram. Business assets such as these may need to undergo a valuation before you decide how to split this type of account up.

How an attorney can help with digital property division discussions

Dividing up assets is one of the more complicated aspects of an Illinois divorce. Sorting out which of the two of your remains in possession of a joint digital asset can be more challenging than it would seem, especially if it has a monetary value. A property division attorney can help you navigate such discussions with your ex here in Wheaton.