taped phone conversation

[candie]

Can my husband use a phone conversation he recorded between himself and me in divorce? We live in AL. This is turning into a very nasty situation. My nerves are so frazzled.

[TC]

I don't have a clue how Bama law looks at this....but the below link gives a pretty good overview from a federal perspective.

http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/recording-phone-calls-and-conversations

Bottom line, even if it is admissable, anything contained therein would be questionable at best.  Most courts realize we all say things we do not mean during divorce proceedings.

Without knowing specific details no one here will be able to tell you if you need to be worried or not, but my guess is that you are worrying more than is necessary.

I'd consult your local attorney for a really good reading on the issue.  They should be able to tell  you how the local court views such things.

TC

[needhelp]

You can record your own conversations in AL without the other party knowing.

[TC]

Recording them and using them in court are two different things.

TC

[TC]

Found this specific to Bama....

http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states/alabama.html

Hope all this helps.

TC

[needhelp]

Our lawyer advised us to tape conversations.  We used logs to prove points & had the tapes to back them up.  Judge didn't listen, but they were there.

[TC]

I understand...but I got the feeling the OP was afraid something said in the conversation would be entered into evidence and used against her.....I question the court's willingness to accept this type of evidence, which is why I suggested she talk to her attorney.

I believe this to be more of an attempt of her stbx to blow smoke up her skirt than to actually do as he claims....but I could be wrong.

TC

[candie]

Thanks for the comments...I tend to let my imagination run wild when stressed...I was trying to get him to come home so we could talk. Guess, I walked right into this one. Abuse was factor in our divorce and yet I wanted to talk to this man...I need some therapy.

[TC]

Abuse is never a good thing...I highly recommend seeing a counselor.

TC

[CollegeDad]

When it comes to tape recording, Alabama is a "one party consent" state.  That means that you may record any conversation that you are having with another person without that person having to provide their consent also. 

Because the tape is not illegal for you to obtain, it "can" be used in a court of law but, it will depend on whether you can successfullly convince a judge, over the objections of an opposing attorney, that it has a bearing on your case. 

If you are being threatened or if someone is describing some illegal action that they are planning on perpetrating against you, I believe a recording like this will be invaluable to convince a judge what kind of person your ex truly is.  If all the tape does is prove that you disagree over things in a heated fashion I don't know that it will serve much purpose.  All it may do is prove how ugly your ex can get with you in person or on the phone and of course you don't prove that you have any halo over your head just because you have a tape of your ex ranting and raving while you are acting like a saint.  A judge is going to know that you had the advantage of knowing that you are being recorded and therefore on your best behavior on any tape you produce to make your ex look bad. 

But, yes, in the state of Alabama you can record your conversations with anyone.  And, I would do it if I felt threatened or in danger of being framed by my ex because when it comes down to trying to convince the judge or the police about what happened, a tape of the encounter is going to go a long way to convey the truth.  My ex told me that she was going to deliberately hurt herself and tell the police that I did it to have me thrown out of my own home.  She threatened to do this if I didn't get out of the house and then when I didn't leave she actually tried to pull it off.  If I hadn't have had a tape recorder the police would have hauled me off to jail and then placed me on a domestic violence watch list probably for years.   

If you do collect recordings and you do plan to use them in your case you do have to provide them to your ex's attorney in the discovery phase of your case.  In my case, I was told to provide only the tapes.  I had a ton of them.  I made copies of all of them and submitted them all in a box without transcripts of what was on any of them.  The reason that I was told to provide only the tapes was to make it difficult for the opposing attorney to know what part of the tapes that we were going to use for my case.  The opposing attorney was put into the position of having to listen to hours of tapes if they wanted to figure out what we were up to.  And we counted on them not taking the time to do that.  We never let on that transcripts of the tapes existed so that we would not receive a subpoena for them.  The plan was to submit key transcripts into the discovery process as late as the day of the trial if it came to that. 

My case never came to trial.  We settled before it came to that.  So, I don't know how submitting transcripts of what was on the tapes would have played out. 

Anyway, unless you have a good reason, dealing with recordings is a big hassle.  I had good reason in my case.  You may too.  I don't know. 

[candie]

He sounded like a saint on the phone and I sounded like a pitiful woman trying to get her husband back at any cost. At first the abuse made me sick and then some how he convinced me it was my fault. I said or looked at him in the wrong way so I would find myself making the apology.

[TC]

He sounded like a saint on the phone and I sounded like a pitiful woman trying to get her husband back at any cost. At first the abuse made me sick and then some how he convinced me it was my fault. I said or looked at him in the wrong way so I would find myself making the apology.

Don't worry about it....if that is all that is on the tape, he has nothing to use against you.

TC

[candie]

Thanks, but I feel like a fool and I am afraid to tell my attorney...this call happened a few days before I obtained a lawyer.  I have made myself sick with worry.  It looks like if I was abused then why would I want him to come home...I walked right into a another big mess. We have pics of me with stitches in my face but that was 2 years ago...I have no idea of what I was thinking when I called.

[m_t]

A couple of things... although AL is a one-party state, that applies only to calls within the state of AL, or between AL and another one-party state. The more restrictive law will govern in the latter case.

Also... is there a restraining order or order of protection? If so, does it apply only to him, or is is mutual?

[candie]

No restraining order.  He may not have recorded me but I just have a feeling that he may have because he was so nice.