Blackmail and Unauthorised Voice Recording of Conversations?

[ellie]

Hi there,

Last year my Mum passed away and since then there has been a lot of arguments, contentious issues and general lack of communication between my siblings as we work through the estate division. One sibling is hyper-paranoid and very disagreeable and has made threats to use audio clips she made from voice recording phone conversations (without us knowing) to use them against the other siblings as leverage.

While there is nothing that I am overly concerned about, there were times when she would call and be quite strange on the phone and ask very probing questions that were framed to get a specific answer regarding possessions and also information about other people who are involved in the estate division.

My questions are: what can be done with these recordings in a legal capacity? Is it illegal to record people without them knowing? She has threatened to share the recordings with other family members - I know there is nothing I can do about this - but should she want to use them in court etc, can they be used?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Sophea]

Hi Ellie,

take a look at this thread about recording telephone conversations:

https://www.lawanswers.com.au/threads/recording-phone-conversations-illegal-or-use-as-evidence.2558/

 

[AllForHer]

It's my understanding that while it's not illegal to obtain recordings if a tapping device isn't used, it's quite difficult to have it admitted as evidence in court because such recordings can be easily manipulated, lack proof of origin, and further, as is found in most family law cases, they are seen as proof of one party trying to coerce the other party into saying something incriminating and is thus not often a genuine admission.

 

[ellie]

Thank you very much for replying to this - much appreciated.

 

[NeverEverGiveUp]

If recording gets into court as evidence. You must never admit it is your voice or that you recall that conversation or maybe it was you. It is up to party admitting the evidence to prove it is you in the conversation or whoever in the conversation and the costs involved are enormous to prove that and then once they decide to have third parties involved they will have to try get around the telecommunications act and there are very serious penalties if your found to breach recording under that law. Also depends on which court and which judge you have as to how easy they will allow recordings as evidence in their court.