A fair volume of articles are appearing in the media today concerning spouses making contractual promises not to post about their spouse at any future time on any form of social media.

Even Dolly Magazine is in on the act.

The concept is that the spouses promise within a pre-nuptial agreement, not to comment or blog or post pictures or videos which would lead the public or any section of it, to think less of their spouse or affect their reputation. The penalty is then stipulated, for example $50,000 – $100,000 for each post or repost or increased in line with what people have to lose.

For our part, we have already drafted and included in a Financial Agreement, a term which provided that where the Wife suspected her Husband was writing a tell-all book, he would pay $500,000 in liquidated damages if any reference to the family law matter, the spouse, the children etc appeared, whether in non-fiction or fiction and in any forum of media.

Given that family law principles in Australia provide for secrecy and non-identification of litigants, and given that the legislation specifically states that parties may enter contracts upon the conclusion of their relationships, the stage is set for the inclusion of these sorts of provisions in Financial Agreements.

It certainly seems a fair request to us to ask that there be restraint on commenting on the private lives of partners and seeking to separate respectfully.

Thanks for reading.