In front of the New York State family court, your child’s other parent may act charmingly and pleasantly. But behind closed doors, so to speak, they may behave in a way that makes you believe it is not in your child’s best interest to ever be under their direct care. The one thing that may help shed light on your lived reality is the text messages and email communications they have sent to you leading up to your litigated custody case. So with that idea, please read on to discover the best methods for collecting, preserving, and submitting your text messages and emails to a custody court, and how one of the seasoned Long Island child custody lawyers at Sklavos Law Firm can help you execute this.
How should I collect and preserve text messages and emails before my custody case?
Ahead of your child custody case proceedings, it is best to get organized with the evidence you intend to submit. Even though you may assume your text messages and emails are already organized in your phone, you cannot expect the New York State family court to accept this format and take it upon themselves to scroll through these endless chains of communication.
Rather, you may take screenshots of important text messages and email conversations and print them out. Screenshots are best when they show the contact details of the individuals exchanging these messages. Or, instead of taking screenshot after screenshot, you may use a specialized software or application that can export the entire conversation thread into a PDF format, which you can print out later.
Then, with these printed copies, you should sort them out chronologically and make sure clear timestamps and important messages within the thread are highlighted. As your case is ongoing, you should take the extra measure to ensure your text messages and emails are securely backed up on your phone; that is, that your settings are not configured in a way that automatically deletes them after a certain time has passed.
What are the best practices to get my text messages and emails admissible in a custody court?
Simply put, the New York State family court may admit your text messages and emails as usable evidence if you can establish their authenticity and relevancy. You may have to make this testimony with honesty and full transparency. But if you acquired this evidence from another party to prove your child’s other parent exhibits a pattern of this concerning behavior, you may ask that they testify on your behalf.
To reiterate, it may be better for you to present full conversations than only select screenshots that reveal only part of the conversation. With that, you must not crop or edit out some of your responses to these messages, even if you think they may make you look bad. For one, you want to provide the court with enough context to prove the point you are trying to make. Secondly, you do not want to make it seem you are attempting to hide something on your end.
To conclude, to ensure you put your best foot forward when starting your case, please consult with one of the competent Long Island family lawyers from Sklavos Law Firm. We are willing to answer any questions and concerns you may have regarding your situation, no matter how minor you may think they are. So call us today.