Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania
for the last month or so my wife and I have been at each others throats. Within the last couple weeks she's got extremely verbally aggressive and shut down communication towards me. so I took it upon myself to log into my cellular account and check messages on her phone number. I did find an unusual number she text messaged a lot and during odd hours late evening and early morning. She's also pin coated her phone so I'm unable to look into it for the first time in 5 years. So what I'm looking to do is hire a lawyer to see if I can subpoena the records and the contents of the messages. Is this possible?
1 Answer from Attorneys
The right to privacy extends to someone's cell phone, even if the cell phone belongs to a spouse. You would not be able to use a subpoena to get any information from your wife's phone for two reasons -
1. The Court will not issue a Subpoena for any information unless there is a case pending in the Court;
2. Even if there is a case pending, the Court will not issue a Subpoena if it will violate your wife's right to privacy. And, you would have to show that this information was necessary to your case, and you are unable to get this information in any other way, i.e., by asking your wife for this information.
If an Attorney tells you that he/she can get this information for you without meeting the above requirements, you should be very careful because they will be using illegal means in obtaining this information. You would not be able to use any information the attorney illegally obtains for you and you might be subjecting yourself to more trouble than you can imagine.
Best of luck,
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