Evidence - some stray thoughts

Something a little different from South Carolina Divorce Lawyer Blog: Technological Tools and Hurdles in Divorce Cases. I picked on this because I think it shows what lawyers do to prepare for a case (even if these items do not need to be done specifically in each and every case). I see a lot of people find this site looking for free legal services or for specific tips on how to do things. Both needs are beyond what I see as part of the educational purpose of this blog.

Now for a bit of the post from South Carolina:

"Today, there are many options available to those who suspect their spouse may be cheating. For instance, The New York Times published an article that looked at digital evidence, such as email messages, history of Web site visits, and cellular telephone records. Better private investigators now frequently use GPS tracking systems to gain information to aid in their surveillance."

Skip the point about cheating spouses as Indiana cares about that only if it affects property or care of the children. Read the post to learn the one thing that the television shows and the movies almost never show about lawyers: collecting evidence to build a case.

I like to think of the attorney-client relationship as a partnership - the lawyer having the law and the client having the facts. What gets overlooked about the law part is not the statutes about divorce and custody and visitation and child support, but the rules about evidence. Evidence is how the facts needed to prove something required by the statutes gets in front of the judge. You can find the Indiana Rules of Evidence here.