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Can content of SMS text messages be used against you in court?

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AmbienTGS

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Maryland

Can the content of text messages be used against you in court in a divorce case? No content was kept on either person's phone. The other spouses obtained the records and found dates and times of the messages. One person uses SprintPCS and the other T-Mobile. Is it even possible that the mobile phone companies even keep this type of information on file? One party called SprintPCS and they stated that they kept this information on file for 7-14 days depending on the quantity of messages. T-Mobile states they do not keep any content of a person's text message. I would assume to obtain this information if it existed you would need a subpoena. Can the other party (spouse) subpoena that information. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.What is the name of your state?
 


CJane

Senior Member
A subpoena is necessary.
Not if the spouse is on the account.

People need to remember the advice from mom... if you don't want your kids to read/see it someday, don't write it down... and that includes blogs, myspace, this forum, txt messages, etc.
 

Ozark_Sophist

Senior Member
Not if the spouse is on the account.

People need to remember the advice from mom... if you don't want your kids to read/see it someday, don't write it down... and that includes blogs, myspace, this forum, txt messages, etc.
Does that make wiretapping my phone legal because the phone is in both my and my wife's name? Even when I'm not a party to the call?
 

CJane

Senior Member
Does that make wiretapping my phone legal because the phone is in both my and my wife's name? Even when I'm not a party to the call?
No, but it's not the same thing. It would be akin to your wife requesting records of incoming/outgoing calls from the phone w/out your permission. Or, requesting information from your ISP about activity on your family internet account w/out your permission.

It's not wiretapping the cell phone, it's accessing records for the account. I know, in my case, a subpoena was NOT necessary as long as we were both on the account.
 

AmbienTGS

Junior Member
How long would most cell phone companies most likely keep the content records? By the time a subpoena would be issued, weeks/months could pass before it goes to court. Are we talking 7 days or 7 months?
 
Do you know if the mobile phone companies keep this information for any length of time?
You are going to have to call the cell provider to find out any information that they keep. I use verizon and the account is solely in my name, i am unable to get any SMS records for this account, they do not store any of them. Furthermore, if you really think about it seriously, they can likely use the transcript of text messages ( IFit exists) but proving who actually carried on the conversation would be rather difficult to prove.

Example, i know for fact on multiple occasions while having a few happy hour drinks friends and i, on different occasions, have taken someones cell phone and carried on random text conversations with ne one that looked like a good number to exchange with, we would say the most bizarre stuff. So lets say that someone got a hold of the records, the poor bestird had no idea what they were talking about.
 

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