Legal Question in Family Law in Oregon
in Oregon are personal journals good for evidence. I kept personal journal from like sept to feb of this this year because some of the issues between me and my daughter's dad were getting bad. I also put some of my own thoughts in it, personal stuff, dating, and things like that, but there is some evidence of physical abuse too from him in front of our daughter. Is the journal good to use?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Your personal journal is not good a "evidence" in the courtroom. You may, however, take it with you on the witness stand and refer to it as you testify for the limited purpose of refreshing your memory (and not as proof of the truth of the matters contained therein). In other words, the "evident" is your oral testimony, not the written statements is the personal journal. BUT..... if you take the personal journal with on the witness stand and use it to refresh your memory as you testify the opposing party has a right to see what you were using to refresh your memory. And he can take it out of your hands and go through it page by page, and then question you about the contents. So if there is anything in the personal journal that you do not with the opposing party to see, do NOT take the personal journal with you when you take the witness stand.
LDG
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