Feb 15, 2024
Divorce battles are fueled by emotions but built on facts and evidence. Extracting texts and communications from phones transforms cases, revealing intentions as well as evidence, regarding everything from finances to custody.
Communication Records
Communication by divorcing spouses can be vital to establishing essential claims and defenses in divorce cases. They can provide crucial evidence and support or weaken the credibility of parties and witnesses.
In these personal disputes, almost all of the preserved communication between the parties lives in text messages, WhatsApp, and voicemails. This makes the review and analysis of the parties’ smartphones paramount to successful settlement, arbitration, mediation, or litigation.
How do you access these communications?
Your client could send you screenshots
You could use an app that exports text messages from a smartphone
Saved voicemails and WhatsApp chat histories can be forwarded via email
You can use an extraction tool like Hearsay to perform all these functions and more
Having important electronic communications at your fingertips can give you an advantage: Hearsay has many practical advantages. Time is money, and Hearsay saves you (and your client) time by quickly downloading communications from a smartphone or device (including texts, WhatsApp messages, and emails), organizing them, and allowing you to search them.
Knowing everything from the start will better prepare you. The fewer surprises you’ll encounter as the case progresses
Finding a “smoking gun” for one issue or another could significantly shake up the case, how it’s handled, and the time you thought it would take to complete. Compelling evidence like incriminating emails or text messages can cause a party to be much more motivated to settle the matter. This frees up your time and shortens the time frame for resolution
Divorce cases have four major issues: property division, alimony, child custody, and child support. Let’s explore how electronic communications can be essential evidence in all these areas.
Property Division
A minority of states have community property division laws. The rest have equitable division statutes. In either situation, the parties need to establish what’s marital and separate property. If the parties are honest and forthcoming, this shouldn’t be a problem. Issues arise when one or both spouses hide assets or try to reduce their value improperly.
This can include:
Overstating debts
Hiding marital property
Understating or undervaluing marital property
Reporting a lower income than what was received
Reporting higher expenses than what was incurred
Transferring assets to a separate account
Making fake loans to a friend or family member
Overpaying tax bills, then requesting a refund later
Buying expensive items in hopes they’ll be overlooked or not found
Deferred bonuses, commissions, or salary
Creating an account in a child’s name and using it to hide money
Transferring money, stock, or investments into family members’ accounts
Selling a property for less than its market value, then repurchasing it later
The spouse could delay income, dividends, or profit-sharing if the spouse owns a business. It could be used as a way to siphon off marital wealth, which is invested in the business
Electronic communications could establish the movement of wealth and the reasons behind it. Along with forensic accounting, they could be important pieces of the property division puzzle.
Alimony or Spousal Support
Each state has factors for determining whether a party should receive alimony and, if so, how much. Some are based on objective facts, like age, length of marriage, or education level. Others are less clear and can be influenced by the content of electronic communications:
Ability to earn an income: A spouse may claim a lower ability than they have. Communications to others may show this fraudulent approach to try to boost alimony payments
Misconduct: This could include physical harm inflicted on the other spouse, adultery, or substance abuse. If the offending spouse denies they committed misconduct, communications obtained through Hearsay may provide evidence otherwise
The parties’ relative needs: A potential payor may deny the possible recipient’s level of need during the divorce process but discussed and acknowledged them in past communications
If important admissions are made in these communications, it can narrow the issues in dispute and result in a negotiated settlement earlier than expected.
Child Custody
Generally, child custody issues are decided by family courts on what’s in the child’s best interests. Ideally, both parents are loving, competent, and willing to have each other in the child’s life. That doesn’t always happen, and child custody disputes can be highly emotionally charged.
Like alimony, the factors a judge may consider can include objective facts and judgment calls. Electronic communications that can influence a decision include when a parent:
Admits to physically or sexually abusing family members, downplays it, or tries to justify it
Denies or downplays a child has a medical or psychological diagnosis, says they shouldn’t be treated, or treatment should be limited
Creates rambling, nonsensical, or violent messages that put the parent’s mental health and ability to safely parent in question
Admits to substance abuse or committing crimes
Expresses a desire to get custody to cut the other parent out of the child’s life
Texts from a child containing false statements or accusations against a parent could be evidence one parent is trying to alienate the child from the other parent. If there’s a custody order before a divorce is final, communications can show a parent is not taking it seriously by failing to make the child available consistently or in a timely fashion.
Child Support
State-created formulas usually drive payments partially based on the potential payor’s income. Electronic communications could show how much the parent is or should be making. They may establish the parent’s working “under the table” and earning unreported cash. They may also show the person is turning down work or income to limit what they make and their child support obligations.
Hearsay Can Help
Hearsay is the best way for divorcing spouses to share their texts, WhatsApp conversations and voicemails with their lawyers. For lawyers, Hearsay makes reviewing, tagging, and storing this digital evidence easier than ever before.
Whether your practice involves divorce or other cases, Hearsay can save you and your staff time, organize potential evidence, and provide important information that may lead to a faster settlement. You can learn more about how Hearsay can help you and your clients by calling emailing us at hello@usehearsay.com or by completing our online contact form today.
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Hearsay is a cutting-edge app designed to extract texts and other messages from cell phones for use in litigation. Tailored specifically for legal professionals, including lawyers, trial attorneys, mediators, and private investigators, Hearsay streamlines the process of obtaining and preserving digital evidence from mobile devices. By leveraging advanced forensic tools and techniques, Hearsay ensures that collected data is accurate, reliable, and ready for court use. Additionally, Hearsay provides valuable resources and insights through its blog, aimed at helping legal professionals stay informed about the latest developments and best practices in digital forensics and evidence management. Contact us at support@usehearsay.com.
Legal Disclaimer
We are not lawyers, and the information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. For legal advice specific to your situation, please consult a qualified attorney.
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