No one wants the details of their divorce to go beyond the walls of their attorneys’ offices and the courtroom. It can be uncomfortable and embarrassing if colleagues, other parents at school or those you know largely through social media interactions find out personal details about your divorce.
If you’re known within the community, throughout your industry or have an even higher profile nationally or internationally, it can be extremely unpleasant and even harmful to your reputation and career to have any information about your divorce become public.
Minimizing how many decisions are made by a judge rather than negotiated with your spouse with the help of your legal teams can lessen the number of court filings and documents entered into the record. However, often it’s the divorcing spouses themselves who leak information to try to embarrass or even harm their soon-to-be ex.
Why the agreement needs to be in place before documents change hands
That’s why seeking a confidentiality agreement can be an important step to take before any financial or other information is exchanged or introduced into the case. A confidentiality agreement is basically a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed by both divorcing spouses.
In some cases, such an agreement is required under one or both spouses’ employment or partnership agreements. However, this is typically to prevent any financial or proprietary information related to a business from becoming public.
Divorce confidentiality agreements can be much broader than that. For example, they typically state that neither will disclose any information on the divorce on social or any other kind of media, to journalists, authors or maybe even to anyone beyond their immediate family. The consequences for breaching the terms of the agreement can include fines and court sanctions.
If you’re considering or are required to seek a confidentiality agreement, you’ll need to make your case to the court before proceedings begin. Whether you’re the one seeking the agreement or the one being asked to sign it, negotiating a thorough and fair agreement is critical. Having experienced legal guidance is key.