The internet can be a valuable source of information, especially when you are developing a strategy for separating from your spouse. However, whatever you search online can be used against in court by your soon-to-be ex-spouse looking to wring every ounce of the advantage he or she can out of the situation. When you're in the process of preparing for divorce, here are a couple of tips for covering your digital tracks to prevent your online activities from hurting you in court.

Use Private Browsing

When using the internet at all, the most basic thing you can do to protect yourself from snooping it enable private browsing in your browser. When this setting is turned on, almost none of the normal information about the sites you've visited and the searches you've done will be saved in your browser like it normally would.

This is particularly important if you're using a computer that accessible by other people in the family, especially children. The last thing you want is your kids stumbling over the divorce lawyer's website you last visited and having them ask you about it before you're ready.

In addition to using the privacy setting, make a habit of purging the temporary files from your computer. Although your browser may not be logging your internet travels, sometimes pages will still get saved to the temporary folder on your hard drive. Thus, you'll want to use the delete tool in your browser to quickly destroy these files so your significant other can't still snoop and find out what you've been up to online.

Use an Encrypted Email Service

Since you'll likely be emailing queries and information to an attorney, you want to be careful about the email service you use. There's a good chance your spouse will have his or her attorney subpoena your emails, especially if he or she suspects there may be important information stored there. And while you may delete any emails you receive, that may not be enough, since sometimes email providers store backups of emails on their servers, so those deleted messages may still be accessible.

A good way to get around this issue is to use a separate email address specifically for communicating with your attorney, and preferably one that encrypts and secures your email messages such as Proton Mail and CounterMail. Not only do these services prevent others from intercepting and reading your emails, but the encryption methods ensures no one—not even employees of the company—can read your message without the decryption key. So even if the opposing counsel obtains deleted messages somehow, the message will just be a garbled mess without the decryption key.

For more tips on covering your digital tracks before you're ready to get divorced or help initiating divorce proceedings, contact an attorney or visit a website like http://www.kalkwarflaw.com.