Legal Question in Family Law in Florida

In FL divorce, is an audio recording between husband/wife, made by one of them, admissable in court? What about recorded voice mails, emails?


Asked on 4/16/11, 12:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

William Gwaltney William W. Gwaltney, Attorneys at Law

The answer is maybe. There are many ways to record a conversation, and most of those are not allowed to be used. In fact, admitting to recording some conversations without notification to the parties involved could open the door for prosecution of federal and/or state crimes. In most cases it is not advisable to record conversations with other people without their express knowledge.

With regard to the voicemail and email, in many cases these can be admitted, at least for purposes of rebutting testimony. If a person leaves a voicemail there is no expectation of privacy and the person should know that they are being recorded. Basically the same thing with emails.

With voicemail and email, there could be a question of authentication. The person trying to use them should have to prove the authenticity of the evidence, unless the other person admits or stipulates that they are genuine.

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Answered on 4/18/11, 6:04 am


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