If you are dealing with the allocation of parental responsibilities in Champaign, it is important to acknowledge that evidence from text messages is critical for your allocation dispute. Plan on documenting and printing text messages so they show when they were sent, received, or even read. In this blog, a Champaign divorce lawyer shares how to handle text messages for your allocation of parental responsibilities and be prepared for a favorable outcome.
Best Practices for Printing Text Messages for Your Case Involving Allocation of Parental Responsibilities
Record of Date, Time, and Time Zone: document the date and time as well as the time zone the messages were sent in.
Accurately Represent Emojis: emojis are important to notate as well because they provide insights on emotions when it comes to text messages.
Best Ways to Preserve a Cell Phone’s Message History
Take Screenshots: one of the easiest ways to preserve your phone’s message history is to take screenshots. Taking screenshots will be the quickest way to gather all the text messages and documentation you need from your phone. The next step is to make a folder on your phone so you can easily find these messages. You may choose to email the folder to yourself and then print relevant messages that may be useful for your case.
Tip: If you are an iPhone user, a useful shortcut to take screenshots with your iPhone is to Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch and tap Back Tap. Tap Double Tap or Triple Tap and choose an action. Double or triple tap on the back of your iPhone to trigger the action you set.
Arrange the Text Messages in a Logical Order: It is extremely important to arrange the text messages in the order that they came in, otherwise, it may cause confusion and negatively impact your case.
Additional Resources to Preserve Your Text Messages
iPhone Backup Extractor Tool: With a single click, you can use this tool to create a complete report of text messaging history. This tool also supports additional apps such as WhatsApp.
To save your text message history in a printable format, follow these steps. Download it, run it, open preferences, and ensure that the “forensics mode” is checked off.
Decipher TextMessage App: this app allows you to save your text messages to your computer and print text messages. It also allows you to recover deleted text messages.
Platforms That You Should Not Rely on for Gathering Text Messages
iCloud: Older messages are removed in iCloud and are archived so they are not reliable, and they will not be helpful from a forensics viewpoint.
Printing Text Messages from Your Phone Provider: the text message records from your network provider are going to be incomplete. Keep in mind that they will not have attachments, rich media, or details of when they were read.
Need Legal Guidance for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities in Champaign?
If you need assistance with any divorce and family law legal matters, contact Rincker Law today at (217) 531-2179 to schedule a confidential consultation.