Evidence Preservation Request Drafting Aid

Create a neutral draft for legal review before sending.

Letter Details

Your Name

Spouse's Name

Date

Important limits: This general draft is not legal advice, a court order, discovery request, or proof that a preservation duty exists. Whether, when, and how to send a notice is fact-specific; overbroad demands may be ineffective or harmful. Do not access accounts or devices without authorization, alter evidence, violate an order, or create a safety risk. Consider attorney review before sending.

Enter names and generate a working draft.
Limit requested categories and time periods to information potentially relevant to the actual dispute.
Ask counsel about recipients, delivery, pending-case rules, third-party data, and how to document the request.
Keep a copy of the final version and delivery record if counsel advises sending it.

REQUEST TO PRESERVE POTENTIALLY RELEVANT RECORDS

TO:
FROM:

RE: Request to Preserve Potentially Relevant Electronic and Physical Records

Dear ,

A current or anticipated family-law dispute may involve potentially relevant records. Such records may need to be preserved when litigation is pending or reasonably anticipated. The scope of any legal duty and the remedies available depend on the circumstances, applicable rules, and court orders. This request is not a court order or a statement that a violation has occurred.

Please take reasonable steps to preserve, and refrain from intentionally deleting, overwriting, hiding, or altering, potentially relevant records in the following categories to the extent they exist, are within your possession or control, and relate to the issues and time period in dispute:

Electronic Communications: Relevant text messages, emails, and app messages for the pertinent people, subjects, and dates.
Financial Records: Relevant statements and transaction records; this request does not seek passwords or authorization to enter another person's account.
Digital Assets: Relevant wallet and exchange transaction records without disclosing private keys or seed phrases in response to this draft.
Social Media: Relevant posts, messages, photographs, and associated available metadata.
Devices: Devices or backups reasonably believed to contain relevant information, subject to lawful access, privacy, and later collection procedures.

Courts evaluate preservation and discovery disputes from the particular facts and governing law. No sanction, inference, fee award, or other remedy is automatic, and this letter does not determine what a court would do.

Please consult counsel if you have questions about the appropriate scope or method of preservation.

Sincerely,

This drafting aid does not create or adjudicate a preservation duty and does not guarantee that the draft is appropriate, sufficient, or enforceable.

Request Legal Review

Call Intake