Can Text Messages Be Used in Court for Child Custody

Text Messages and Child Custody Cases

When it comes to family law cases in Nevada, both parties are required to provide evidence to the court to support their proposed orders for child custody, support (NRS 125C.0675), and property. The evidence presented may come in the form of documents, testimonies, or photographs. However, lawyers are increasingly using text messages as evidence for their child custody cases.

There is always the option to download and print out copies of text messages exchanged between spouses or parents and present them at a hearing or trial in Las Vegas as evidence. The text messages obtained could be from months or years back based on the type and kind of settings of the phone. The text messages can be used to try and prove a range of claims such as a spouse’s capacity to earn extra income, a parent’s refusal to give back a child or to form the basis upon which a restraining order is requested. Provided that the text message was sent by either of the sides, and it is a statement against the interest of the other party, then the courts may admit it as evidence.

Therefore, it is essential to ensure that you save these text messages in case you have a pending case in a Las Vegas family court, or are planning to file a case sometime in the future. This will really help to support your case later on in a Nevada court. While most mobile service providers usually save call log records, very few actually save the content contained in the text messages. And the few that do save this, will do so for a specified number of months. Hence, acquiring these text messages through a subpoenas can be almost impossible. Fortunately, there are various apps available that can help to turn text messages into PDFs that can be backed up to a computer or the cloud.

Under various exceptions to the Hearsay (NRS 51.035) rule in NV, presenting text messages that were sent by the other party in your case are admissible in court. But this won’t apply for text messages sent from any other person who isn’t the opposing party. For instance, in case you want to bring in a text message from your spouse’s new girlfriend, the girlfriend might need to be called upon to appear as a witness if you want to try and get this information admitted into evidence in Las Vegas.

With that being said, it is equally important for you to be cautious about what you send in your text messages in Las Vegas. This is considering the fact that you can use your spouse’s text messages as evidence in your case, he or she can also use your text messages as evidence against you. If you issued threats or made certain admissions in your text messages, then these statements can be used against you to weaken your case.

Matters regarding the admissibility of evidence are complex and should be handled by an experienced child custody attorney. We have assisted dozens of clients to utilize text messages and other kinds of evidence to support their case. You can reach us at (702) 387-4014 to schedule an appointment to go over your case and the evidence that we can use to gain a favorable outcome. Call Huggins Law Office today to schedule a free consultation.