Family Law
- →Messages and call history. Forensic extraction of phones so messages can be produced reliably, including deleted material where it can be recovered.
- →Screenshots and authenticity. Checking whether screenshots, photos and documents are genuine. Why screenshots are challenged.
- →Location evidence. Analysis of location history relevant to parenting and protection order matters.
- →Domestic violence matters. Evidence of harassment, tracking or monitoring, handled with discretion. See domestic violence support.
Property settlements where one party appears to have undisclosed income or assets, parenting matters where messages contradict sworn statements, and disputes over when a relationship ended or what was agreed. Phones, laptops, cloud accounts and financial apps hold the contemporaneous record, and unlike recollection, metadata does not take sides.
Concealed Assets
Examination of devices and financial records can surface banking and investment apps, exchange logins, transfers to unfamiliar accounts and browsing history around asset structures. Wallet apps, seed-phrase photos and exchange accounts also leave traces on a device that a party rarely cleans up completely.
Deleted Messages and “Lost” Devices
Deleted chat threads are frequently recoverable from the device, its backups or the other participant’s handset. When a party claims a device is lost or broken, backups, synced computers and cloud accounts often hold the same material. Act before the data is overwritten, and have it recovered forensically so it is admissible.
Doing It Lawfully
Accessing a former partner’s device or accounts without authority can breach the law and taint the evidence. Preservation and examination should run through your lawyer, on devices and accounts you are entitled to access, or under court orders. See the Federal Circuit and Family Court’s guidance on expert witnesses in family law.
How an Engagement Runs
Your solicitor engages us in confidence. We preserve the available devices and accounts, examine them against defined questions and report in plain English, with a court-ready expert report and testimony if the matter proceeds to hearing.
Insolvency
- →Preserving company records. Forensic imaging of computers, servers, email and accounting systems on appointment.
- →Deleted and missing records. Recovering deleted files and establishing when records were removed. See deleted data & timelines.
- →Tracing assets and communications. Examination of devices and accounts relevant to transactions under investigation.
- →Reports for the court. Findings suitable for examinations, recovery proceedings and trustee reports.
Working With Practitioners
We act on instructions from family lawyers, liquidators, trustees and administrators, and can be appointed as a single expert where the parties agree. Reports are written to the expert codes of conduct so they can be filed without rework.
Related Guides
Common Questions
Can you examine a former partner's phone?+
Only with consent or a court order. We can advise on what to seek in orders so the examination is limited to what is relevant to the matter.
How soon can you image records after an appointment?+
Usually the same day or the next business day in South East Queensland, and within 24 to 48 hours elsewhere in Australia.
Can you act as a single expert?+
Yes. We regularly work independently of both parties and report to the court.
Background
Every matter is handled personally by Bobby Pabla, an IACIS-certified examiner (CFCE, ICMDE) with 16 years in law enforcement and government investigation, including the New Zealand Police, the NZ Serious Fraud Office and PNG's Independent Commission Against Corruption. He has given expert evidence in criminal, civil, family and insolvency matters.