Admissable Evidence

[Ronin]

It's worth a shot for the money. It won't be any more admissible, but at least it will be more presentable in court than asking the court to look at your phone or photos of the messages.

Good luck...

 

[Bloopy]

Ok I go tthe program going and found out that you do not need a SIM card you can just plug your phone into the computer with a USB cord that fits it. It reads the internal memory. It worked on my phone when I tested it and pulled up messages from well over a year ago. This is actually a very cool program.

If you type in "cell phone text message recovery" in google it will give you a bunch of different ones to look over.

It's cool that it works even without a sim card.

I tried "cell phone text message recovery" in google and all of them refer to a Sim card.

It's worth a shot for the money. It won't be any more admissible, but at least it will be more presentable in court than asking the court to look at your phone or photos of the messages.

Being presentable is HUGE. If a judge’s eyes have to bleed to view your evidence it greatly increases the chances of it being excluded.

 

[2Mistakes]

I'm so glad I found this thread. My wife and I bought my 14 y/o daughter a cell for Christmas, and her plan has unlimited texting, which she does ALL the time.

One of the caveats of us getting her this phone and us paying the bill each month, is that it is really OUR phone (well, actually, my wife's since the account is in her name), and we will check it whenever we want.

Well, the other night, my daughter popped off at the mouth to me, so I told her to bring me her phone and computer, she was grounded.

When she brought me the phone, I tried to check up on her texting, and she had deleted everything from her inbox, sent, etc. So now, of course I'm wondering what she's trying to hide.

I just bought a USB data cable for her phone on ebay for $3.00 + shipping, and will be downloading one of those programs.

Kids think they are so smart, but now I'm gonna find out just who she's been texting, and what.

 

[Ohiogal]

As with much evidence in family law cases... it depends.

For your attorney to get it entered as 'evidence', your ex will likely have to be confronted with it in court, at which point he can either admit or deny it. Whatever he admits to is easy money for your lawyer. If he denies it, then the judge will likely dismiss the denied evidence unless you make a convincing response or an offer of proof.

While any good lawyer would stand up an argue that electronic communications can be manipulated, which they can be, the judge will already know that stuff. With text messaging and emails and such, it will likely be dismissed if he strongly denies it and it comes down to your word against his. If your attorney is smart, he/she would likely setup the line of questioning and work him into a corner with other questions before asking him whether or not he sent those. But if you already gave your ex a heads up you are going to attempt to use this in court against him, he will be better prepared for this and on the defensive.

It is a credibility issue. In one of my cases, my client had cell phone text messages that we wanted to have admitted. I went through each and every text message and copied it VERBATIM off of the client's phone including time and from/to information. I then typed it up and submitted it. I laid the foundation and had my client testify as to what that exhibit was, how it was transcribed, why it was transcribed, when it was transcribed, what the transcription was of, and then we went through each and ever message and I had my client explain to the court why such message was bothersome, frightening or harrassing (it was a restraining order hearing). The other attorney objected, the Court overruled and stated it was a credibility issue and the Court was the one who would be deciding the credibility of the witnesses NOT counsel.

 

[escape2paradise]

Ok I go tthe program going and found out that you do not need a SIM card you can just plug your phone into the computer with a USB cord that fits it. It reads the internal memory. It worked on my phone when I tested it and pulled up messages from well over a year ago. This is actually a very cool program.

If you type in "cell phone text message recovery" in google it will give you a bunch of different ones to look over.

What program did you use? Like Majo, I am not finding any program other than those for SIM cards.

 

[escape2paradise]

It is a credibility issue. In one of my cases, my client had cell phone text messages that we wanted to have admitted. I went through each and every text message and copied it VERBATIM off of the client's phone including time and from/to information. I then typed it up and submitted it. I laid the foundation and had my client testify as to what that exhibit was, how it was transcribed, why it was transcribed, when it was transcribed, what the transcription was of, and then we went through each and ever message and I had my client explain to the court why such message was bothersome, frightening or harrassing (it was a restraining order hearing). The other attorney objected, the Court overruled and stated it was a credibility issue and the Court was the one who would be deciding the credibility of the witnesses NOT counsel.

Hopefully our judge will see it that way as well. So far my X has managed to destroy his credibility with the court and with the GAL. The GAL points out over and over again in her report his non stop inconsistencies. At the beginning of a conversation he will tell you one thing and by the end he will say the exact opposite.

I recently saw a message from him to DD telling her sorry he hadn't responded to her email that he hasn't been on a computer or email in months. A few sentences later he told her she needs to call and email the GAL to insist she have visitation with him (he has no visitation right now) and she should do so daily until the he gets visitation. Then he tells her that he has emailed the GAL everyday for the last few months. Now how did he do that when he hasn't been on the computer or email in months?

He is a serial liar and lies about the most mundane things. Heck, I thought for 2 yrs. that he had an older brother and sister. It wasn't until I got closer to his mom that I found out that the "brother" was actually a cousin and the "sister" was a very close family friends daughter. Why lie about such things? I have no clue, it's really very bizarre! He is a good con man, but like every good con job, people eventually figure out the truth.

 

[casa]

I am in WA.

I would like to submit text messaging records to the court. These are records of from my personal cell phone so my cell provider does not require a subpoena for me to obtain these. What is the proper way for me to present the records so that they will be admissable as evidence?

Are copies of dates, times and content from my provider admissable or will I need some sort of certification or affadavit from my provider attesting to their authenticity etc...?

If you've provided the records/information to the GAL...then the information is being considered by the best source right now. I would only caution that you should make sure you've filed copies & served them upon all parties as well.