Digital evidence preservation before a lawsuit
Early preservation decisions often happen before counsel is formally retained or before a complaint is filed. This page provides a neutral, preservation-first overview of common risk points and documentation artifacts used to support later counsel review. It does not provide legal advice and does not instruct on unauthorized access or account intrusion.
What “preservation before lawsuit” usually means
In practice, it is a short window where potential evidence exists on consumer devices, cloud accounts, or employer systems, but retention policies, device turnover, or normal user activity can change it. The objective is typically to stabilize identified sources, document handling steps, and create a clean handoff package for counsel.
Typical sources that change quickly
- Messaging threads and attachments (SMS/iMessage, WhatsApp/Signal), including metadata and timestamps.
- Cloud-stored photos, notes, and backups that sync and overwrite (iCloud/Google).
- Work collaboration systems (Teams/Slack) governed by retention and eDiscovery settings.
- Email and shared drives subject to mailbox limits, auto-archive, or account closure.
Documentation artifacts that reduce later disputes
- Written scope and authorization summary (who requested what, for which sources, and for what purpose).
- Chain-of-custody record covering device/account identifiers, dates, and transfer steps.
- Integrity verification notes (hashes where applicable, collection method, tool versions).
- Transfer receipt and custody handoff log for counsel or retained specialists.
Scenario-specific guidance
If you are dealing with a specific dispute type, these pages narrow the preservation-first lens to the sources and timing issues most often seen in that scenario:
- Divorce / family-law scenarios (texts and cloud messaging nuances).
- Employment disputes (Teams/Slack/email retention and device return timing).
- Insurance claims (claim timelines, adjuster handoff, documentation artifacts).
Scenario guides in this cluster
- digital evidence preservation before lawsuit
- divorce and family-law evidence preservation
- employment dispute evidence preservation
- insurance claim evidence preservation
- litigation hold vs evidence preservation