Texts as Evidence: Should You Use Them in Your Divorce?

For instance, texts can prove instances of abuse, infidelity, promises made, and issues with child custody. However, you need to know how to correctly present text messages as evidence for them to be viewed as admissible in court. The following is some information about using text messages in your divorce case.

If you intend to use text messages in your divorce case, you need to keep some things in mind before you submit them. One important part of using texts is to show all of them. You should not pick and choose certain messages and expect a judge to consider them as evidence. This can imply that you are only presenting one part of the story.

A judge wants to see the entire conversation. You cannot remove your own texts, no matter what they represent. Even if a text makes you feel embarrassed, you have to provide the entire context of a conversation for it to be sufficient for evidence.

The drawback to this is the judge must consider your part of the conversation when he or she uses the texts as part of your divorce. For instance, if the judge believes you instigated an argument, he or she may not take the texts into consideration. It may appear as though you intentionally baited your spouse into an argument to build evidence.

Another consideration when you use texts in your divorce is to show they are real and were actually sent to you by your spouse. You should never attempt to manufacture text messages to present them as evidence if they are not truly from your spouse. This can get you into major legal trouble.

The judge will evaluate the messages to ensure they were truly sent by your spouse. The messages should be sent to you from your spouse's phone number. Each text should contain a date and a time. If, for some reason, your phone does not show the actual time and date of the texts, you need to provide a copy of your phone records to corroborate the time and date.

Screenshots may be questionable. If the text message conversations are shorter in length, screenshots may be fine to use. However, if you have dozens of messages about one particular topic, screenshots can be difficult to manage. A better option is to download the messages to your computer and print them out for the judge to see so the messages remain in order and are understandable.

Each set of text messages should surround one area of contention between you and your spouse. If you are bringing up multiple issues and you have separate text conversations about those issues, group the texts to represent each issue separately.

When you use text messages as evidence, keep in mind that you may also be implicated in different aspects of your divorce. If you believe you could suffer consequences from text messages, you may want to reconsider using them as evidence unless you receive a subpoena for them.

If you have any questions about a family law matter, please contact James D. Bass Attorney at Law for assistance.