Thinking about spying on your spouse or the parent of your children? Bad idea.

Contrary to popular belief, spying on someone will not help your divorce or child custody case, and it could get you into a lot of trouble with the law. In family law disputes, there are many times where it’s your word against the other party’s. So, lots of well-meaning and good-hearted people think that the best way to gather evidence in their case is to record their conversations with their spouse or parent of their child.

Bad idea.

Under state law in California, you are committing a crime if you record a private conversation, and you could be imprisoned for up to one year or fined. Doing so will only hurt you in your family law case. Evidence obtained by recording a confidential communication is inadmissible, and you will not be earning any points with the judge. You will also be committing a federal crime and could be imprisoned for up to five years and fined.

The best way to build your case is to hire an attorney who knows how to do that within the bounds of the law.