At Eggert Law Firm, I advise my divorce and custody clients to back up their phone on a regular basis. It’s easy to do and will help your case.
These days, most of us have some kind of smartphone and that phone has become the communications hub of our lives! We send text messages, use Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp, send emails, surf the web, and so much more with these phones. They are truly a wonder of modern life.
With all that information on a smartphone, it is essential to keep a current backup at all times when there’s a possibility you might be going to court for divorce or custody. Why is that? Number one reason: getting another copy of those horrible-sounding text messages your ex sent you might be really difficult if not impossible. Just because those text messages go through your phone provider’s servers doesn’t mean the phone company keeps a copy. Even if they do have a copy, they may delete the messages after a while or refuse to provide them even under subpoena.
It is much easier to just back up your phone. Then you’ll always be able to retrieve a copy of your messages and emails, even if you lose your phone, it gets dropped and broken, or if you just replace it at the end of your contract. I’ve even had cases where a friend of the ex “plays with” the phone and later my client finds out the offending text messages were deleted and can’t be recovered.
While we’re on the subject, password-protect your phone, don’t let anyone else use it, and change ALL of your passwords after your breakup. At worst it’s an inconvenience to you, but it’s one that could save your case by preserving your evidence!