texts as evidence

[NewcastleBrownAle]

I have a CAO in progress and it's a month or so away from FHDRA, which I'm sure isn't going to well ( it is raining false allegations). At the NMO the ex tried to slap on me, she shouted out that I had manipulated texts and they were not evidence ( when in fact the police told me, she had done so).

So,, I have 4 years of iMessages and I've never deleted anything. As far as I'm aware, you certainly can amend, edit or add messages, and I was hoping to rely on them as good evidence in court, as they are in stark contrast to her allegations.

So, the question is, can I use them as evidence, or is her claim that I've amended, edited or added them , going to trash it as evidence ?

Moving forward, we are using a parenting app, but for the court battle that is looming, I need to be able to use the texts,

Thoughts ?

 

[Ash]

Yes you can use them as evidence - at a final hearing but not before and that is where patience comes in and you have to jump through hoops to get to the final hearing. I would start going through them and organising screenshots of the most relevant ones. And organising the screenshots into "topics" - eg one topic about her sending abusive messages, one topic where she is showing she is lying be being contradictory, and so on.

It can really help, when preparing a statement and evidence for final hearing, to have it all organised in advance. Your statement would probably be structured around about 8 stronger pieces of evidence though, not multiple texts. The evidence backs up what you say in the statement. So you narrow it down a bit more each time. Narrow it down now, then with perspective later, narrow it down again. Then before the statement pick out the strongest ones to make some points.

Emails also. And ignore her rubbish about texts don't count because they can be amended - they are acceptable as evidence. It helps the screenshot shows her name and the date. Conversations (ie 2 or 3 messages back and forth) are the most useful - providing your side of the conversation is reasonable. If it's just an outrageous text from her on its own it's not so useful because it doesn't show the context of the conversation and for all the court knows, your texts could have been just as bad.

 

[KF31]

My partner used text messages and emails at his last court case for enforcement. One message that he used was from ex saying that he wouldn’t be seeing his daughter again. It was that particular message that helped my partners case.

 

[NewcastleBrownAle]

Yes you can use them as evidence - at a final hearing but not before and that is where patience comes in and you have to jump through hoops to get to the final hearing. I would start going through them and organising screenshots of the most relevant ones. And organising the screenshots into "topics" - eg one topic about her sending abusive messages, one topic where she is showing she is lying be being contradictory, and so on.

It can really help, when preparing a statement and evidence for final hearing, to have it all organised in advance. Your statement would probably be structured around about 8 stronger pieces of evidence though, not multiple texts. The evidence backs up what you say in the statement. So you narrow it down a bit more each time. Narrow it down now, then with perspective later, narrow it down again. Then before the statement pick out the strongest ones to make some points.

Emails also. And ignore her rubbish about texts don't count because they can be amended - they are acceptable as evidence. It helps the screenshot shows her name and the date. Conversations (ie 2 or 3 messages back and forth) are the most useful - providing your side of the conversation is reasonable. If it's just an outrageous text from her on its own it's not so useful because it doesn't show the context of the conversation and for all the court knows, your texts could have been just as bad.

I was more thinking , for fact finding, as I'm fairly convinced that her allegations are serious enough that the court will want to ascertain if they may be true. So I was more thinking that they would be useful as evidence to show her allegations are false ( and the contrast between her texts and her lies is breathtaking).