Your divorce might be finalized, but your old relationship could be living on in hundreds of old photographs of you and your partner. What should you do with all of these old snapshots—all of which say a thousand words? The answer probably depends upon how the relationship ended, how you are moving forward, and whether you have children:
- Give them to your kids. Even though pictures of you and your ex may be painful for you to look at, they may be extremely important to your children, especially in the future. Hanging a picture of your complete family in your kids’ rooms may be comforting to them, and having an album to give an older child is often better than destroying pictures.
- Put them away for now. You may wish to keep pictures, but also keep them out of sight for now. Consider pulling family photos off of the wall, but place them in an album for later use or historical reasons. Replace the pictures with snapshots of other loved ones in your life.
- Make sure to get copies of the ones you want. Check to see which photos are in your possession and if your spouse has pictures of the children that you may want. Most exes will agree to loan you the photos to have them scanned even if your divorce was not amicable.
- Get rid of them! In some cases, keeping old photographs doesn’t do anything except prevent you from moving on to the future and into future relationships. It might be the right choice for you to dump the pictures in the trash, delete them from your computer, or even destroy them in an effort to move on. However, really think about this to make sure you won’t regret it later.
To contact a Washington divorce attorney at the Law Offices of Molly B. Kenny, call 425-460-0550.
