Should Your Prenup Agreement Have a Social Media Clause?

On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Agreements on Monday, June 23, 2014.

The Onion, a satirical website, jokingly reported some property divisions include fines as steep as $50,000 for posting an unflattering picture of their partner on Facebook. It got me to thinking, what if this wasn’t satire?

Prenuptial agreements should include a “social media clause”. You know, a clause that protects you from a public relations disaster because your wife liked that cute picture of you passed out on vacation. Or one that prevents your husband from uploading a picture of you in the bathroom because he thought it was funny.

You and your partner could agree not to post, tweet, or otherwise share certain positive, negative, insulting, embarrassing, or flattering images or content. While married, you have control over what gets posted, but after a angry breakup, it could be “anything goes.”

It would be helpful to have a guarantee that a bitter Ex won’t publicly humiliate you on a world-wide scale, causing you reputational harm, and making it harder to meet someone new, or even hurting your career.

As Manhattan-based psychotherapist Diane Spear puts it:

“You could see a side of someone you wouldn’t have believed existed when you’re flushed with the romance and newness of the marriage,” said Spear.

Or as Fox News reports:

If you’re marrying someone and you’re concerned that they’re going to put a nude picture of you on the Internet, and you have to put that into a prenup – there’s probably a problem in the relationship before you’re even getting married.

The Fox News report can be found here.

The far funnier Onion report here.