When facing a dispute with someone that you had been communicating with via text message, those texts can be used as evidence in a court of law.
Although text messages aren’t automatically admissible in court, steps can be taken to properly preserve the texts as evidence or they won’t be allowed to be presented in the case. The three main reasons the court might exclude text messages are relevancy, hearsay, and lack of authenticity.
Relevancy
For a text message to be relevant, it must be of consequence to the determination of the case or the facts of the case.
Hearsay
Whether a text message is hearsay is a little more complex, but in general, text messages between you and someone who is not a party to the case will not be allowed into evidence.
Authenticity
Lastly, the court will want to know whether the text messages you are trying to admit are authentic; meaning the following details should be visible in your text message documentation: the date and time of the messages that were sent or received, and the contact information of the other person.
Tangible Evidence
Since the court reporter keeps exhibits used in hearings and trials as part of the court record, you should have you text messages printed out through screenshots.
As you are creating screenshots, you should scroll through the conversation and capture each part the conversation that ensures the following are visible: date, time, and contact information. Once the screenshots are captured, it should be automatically saved in your device, and from there, you should be able to send, save or share the screenshot as you would with any other document.
Final Thoughts
Be sure to organize your text messages in chronological order.
Keep in mind, that anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Before hitting send, think about what the judge in your case might think if he or she reads your text messages.