Text messages, photos, app data, and location history decide custody and divorce disputes more often than any witness. The Waldrep Company provides digital forensics for family law attorneys nationwide: defensible extraction, recovery, and authentication of the evidence your case turns on.
Family law cases run on digital evidence. A parenting dispute turns on a text thread. A dissipation claim turns on payment app records. A relocation fight turns on location history nobody realized the phone was keeping. Digital forensics in a divorce case means getting that evidence off the device correctly, so it holds up in court.
Eric Waldrep brings 19 years of digital forensics experience and 27 years in law enforcement, with casework in federal and state courts. The file you receive is built for litigation: what was found, where it lives, and how it was preserved.
Extractions run on Cellebrite UFED, GrayKey, and Magnet AXIOM, with every acquisition hash-verified to show the examined copy matches the original. The full process is described under mobile device forensics. Based in Addison, Alabama; working with attorneys nationwide through remote intake, shipped devices, and travel for testimony.
The attorney is the client. Call (251) 216-1164 or use the contact page; the first consultation is free. You get a written scope, a per-device quote, and a shipping plan for the device.
A handful of evidence types decides most family matters. Each has to be collected so it survives a challenge.
Native extraction of iMessage, SMS, and chat threads with stored timestamps, participant data, and hash verification, including deleted messages where artifacts remain.
A photo's metadata can show when it was taken, on what device, and often where: a disputed image becomes evidence an examiner can explain under oath.
GPS history, significant-location records, and app location data bearing on custody schedules, relocation disputes, and where a parent actually was.
WhatsApp, Signal, Snapchat, dating apps, payment apps. App data often survives where texts do not, and payment records matter in dissipation claims.
A client's own device examined for monitoring software, mirroring apps, and unauthorized account access, with documented findings.
Written for the courtroom, not the lab, and backed by deposition and trial testimony. See the expert witness service.
A screenshot is a picture of a screen. It carries no underlying message records, no stored timestamps beyond what is drawn in the image, and no way to show the conversation was not edited, cropped, or staged with a renamed contact. Opposing counsel knows this, which is why screenshots draw objections.
A forensic extraction is different. The messages come out of the device's own databases with stored timestamps, participant identifiers, and delivery records, and the acquisition is hash-verified so the examined copy can be shown to match the source. That gives counsel a foundation for authenticating text messages that a camera-roll image cannot provide, and it captures what a screenshot never will: the deleted thread sitting next to the ones that were kept.
None of this is legal advice, and no examiner can promise a court will admit an exhibit. A proper acquisition gives you a witness who can explain where the evidence came from and how it was preserved.
The full process is under data recovery and authentication, and our article on deleted text messages in court covers what recovery can and cannot do.
Some clients arrive with a specific fear: the ex knows too much. Sometimes that is coincidence. Sometimes there is monitoring software on the client's phone. The examination is of the client's own device, so it is simple to authorize. It looks for commercial stalkerware, mirroring apps tied to someone else's account, unauthorized cloud access, and settings that quietly share location.
One caution: do not wipe the phone. If monitoring software is present, it is evidence, and deleting apps or factory-resetting destroys the proof. Sudden removal can also alert the person doing the monitoring.
Preserve first, examine second, then decide next steps with counsel.
The line is simple and it does not move. We examine devices the client owns, and devices counsel obtains through consent or legal process: agreement of the parties, discovery, or court order.
We do not covertly access another person's phone. Requests to pull data from a spouse's device without their knowledge, bypass the passcode on a phone the client does not own, or install monitoring software are declined, every time. Covert access can create criminal exposure, and evidence gathered that way tends to hurt the case it was meant to help.
If the other party's device matters, there is a lawful path to it, and it runs through you.
The retaining attorney is the client throughout: scope, findings, and communication all run through counsel. Individuals are welcome to call, and the first step is nearly always the same: talk to your attorney, then bring the examiner in together.
Two numbers cover most engagements. A written fee agreement comes first, and the initial consultation is free.
Flat rate per device. Multiple-device pricing on request.
Scope agreed with counsel in writing first. The full fee schedule, including testimony, is on the rates page.
The questions family law attorneys ask most.
Call or write for a free consultation. Describe the case in general terms and get a straight answer on what an examination can and cannot establish, plus a written quote.
Free initial consultation · The attorney is the client · Devices shipped nationwide
Tell us what the matter involves and we will respond personally. Initial consultations are free, and nothing you send here is a retention.
