As we head into a New Year, social media continues to be a major player in South Australian divorces for all the wrong reasons.

In a rapidly growing trend, warring couples who “vent” online about each other are finding that their comments are coming back to haunt them in the courtroom.

A recent case in Western Australia highlighted what is fast becoming a superhighway to divorce.

In this instance, a woman was ordered to pay $12,500 to her former husband for defaming him on Facebook as a wife abuser.

Her ex-husband sued, saying “the allegations were untrue and the post seen by family and acquaintances, had caused stress and embarrassment.”

These types of comments along with damaging photos, flippant remarks or malicious gossip are increasingly being used as key evidence and often have a dramatic effect on the eventual outcome.

They also serve as a warning that while separation and divorce is very emotional, couples must be very careful about what they post on their social networks.

The moment you decide to go public with your thoughts, you are exposing yourself to some serious consequences.

And what may seem a relatively harmless photo or comment about your ex-partner could cause real harm to your divorce and settlement case.

Facebook is the obvious danger but tweets and texts can be just as damaging.

You have to remember that whatever you put into the public domain can be saved, printed, copied or forwarded.

And just because you may choose to delete it later on, doesn’t mean your former partner hasn’t kept a copy and that may prove both embarrassing and damaging to you if you end up in front of a Family court judge.