Are Text Messages Admissible in a Divorce?

You may view text messaging as one of the more informal means of communicating. However, this may have been the most frequently used method in which you and your soon-to-be former spouse spoke to one another during your marriage, especially if you physically separated ahead of your divorce filing. In this case, you may think that the New Jersey family law judge handling your divorce case and ruling on its final order may benefit from access to these conversations. Well, if so, please follow along to find out whether my personal text messages will be considered admissible in my court proceedings and how a proficient Bergen County divorce attorney at McNerney & McAuliffe can help you gather the necessary evidence to get your desired case outcome.

Why would I want a family law judge to see my text messages?

Initially, you may assume that exposing your text messages between you and your soon-to-be former spouse is an invasion of privacy and breaking a level of trust you fought to maintain even during your separation. However, sharing this communication chain may be in your best interest if you want to prove a certain point in your divorce proceedings. More specific examples for why you would do this are as follows:

• You may want to expose your spouse’s pattern of verbal and emotional abuse via spamming or harassing text messages.
• You may want to expose your spouse for ignoring or alienating you when you inquire about your shared child via text message.
• You may want to expose your spouse’s admission of infidelity if you are claiming this as a fault ground for your contested divorce.
• You may want to expose your spouse’s admission of owning certain assets that they failed to report for property division, child support, and alimony.

Are my personal text messages admissible in a divorce court?

If you can closely relate to any of the above scenarios, you should carefully consider sharing your text messages with the divorce court. The judge handling your divorce case may deem these records of written communications as admissible if they meet the following criteria:

• Your text messages must be relevant to the issues currently being addressed in your divorce proceedings (i.e., domestic violence, parental alienation, infidelity, hidden assets, etc).
• Your text messages must be authentic communication between you and your spouse (i.e., proof of timestamps, the sending and receiving phone numbers, etc).
• Your text messages must be from your personal phone number or legally obtained from your spouse’s phone number (i.e., subpoenas).

Lastly, it is worth mentioning that you should provide a sufficient thread of text messages. This is so your spouse does not accuse you of taking your conversations out of context to work an argument in your favor, for example.

If you desire more clarity before you head into these proceedings, please do not wait any longer to reach out to a talented Bergen County family law attorney. Retain the services of McNerney & McAuliffe today.