The destruction, alteration, concealment, or failure to preserve evidence that is relevant to a legal proceeding. Spoliation triggers serious consequences: adverse inference instructions (where the judge tells the jury to assume the destroyed material was harmful to the party who destroyed it), financial sanctions, and in some cases criminal liability.
When it begins: the duty to preserve attaches when you know, or reasonably should know, that litigation is likely — not when you actually file. Researching divorce checklists or consulting a lawyer is generally enough to trigger it.
What it covers: messages, emails, call logs, documents, photos with location metadata, calendar entries, and social media content relevant to the dispute.
What it does not cover: protecting access going forward (changing passwords, enabling 2FA) or using secure tools for future communications. The line runs through legal advice, not instinct.
What it means in practice
Spoliation consequences are worse than the content being destroyed in most cases. An adverse inference instruction tells the jury to assume the deleted material was harmful to you — which is often more damaging than the material itself would have been. The duty to preserve attaches the moment you reasonably anticipate litigation, not when you file. Changing passwords, enabling 2FA, and switching to encrypted communications for future conversations are not spoliation. Deleting existing messages, emails, or social media content that relates to the dispute is.
Related articles
Deleting evidence vs protecting yourself. What’s legal and what’s not. — Digital privacy checklist before filing for divorce. — Judges are using your Instagram posts against you.