Evidence rules (US and UK)

WhatsApp messages and texts as evidence in England and Wales

Last reviewed 2026-10-17 · 3 official sources cited below

This page summarizes formatting rules from the official Practice Directions for civil and family proceedings in England and Wales. It doesn’t cover whether evidence is admissible or how much weight it gets. Ask a solicitor, or see the court’s guidance for litigants in person.

Exhibits to witness statements and affidavits (CPR PD 32)

Practice Direction 32 (Evidence) sets out how documents are exhibited:

• The first page of each exhibit should be marked with the exhibit mark referred to in the affidavit (para 11.3).
• Letters should be arranged “in chronological order with the earliest at the top” (para 12.1). Message threads are naturally presented the same way.
• Where an exhibit contains more than one document, a front page should list the documents it contains (para 13.3).
• Multi-document exhibits should be securely fastened (not stapled), with “the pages … numbered consecutively at bottom centre” (para 15.1).
• “Every page of an exhibit should be clearly legible” (para 15.2).

TextExhibits puts “Page X of Y” at the bottom centre of every page and the exhibit mark in the header. For a UK exhibit, set the paper size to A4 and use your exhibit mark (for example “AB1”) as the label.

Electronic documents and metadata (CPR PD 31B)

PD 31B on disclosure of electronic documents defines metadata as “data about data”, such as the date and time a document was sent, which is “not readily accessible once the Native Electronic Document has been converted into an Electronic Image or paper document.” It defines Native Format as an electronic document stored in the original form in which it was created. In disclosure, keep the original export files (the native material) as well as any PDF you make. The SHA-256 hash on the cover page links the two.

Family proceedings e-bundles (FPR PD 27A)

For family court e-bundles, PD 27A para 11.2 requires:

• PDF format;
• a default limit of 350 A4 pages, which may only be exceeded with the court’s permission;
• page numbering by computer-generated numbering, not by hand;
• bookmarks for significant documents and sections, and searchable text where possible. Documents with typed text should be OCR’d if they weren’t created directly as electronic text.

A PDF generated from the chat export is already electronic text, so it is searchable without OCR.

Time zones

WhatsApp exports show the phone’s local time with no time zone. Note whether the phone was on UK time (GMT/BST) when you exported. See time zones.

Sources

1. Civil Procedure Rules, Practice Direction 32 — Evidence (exhibits, paras 11–15) (Ministry of Justice)
2. Civil Procedure Rules, Practice Direction 31B — Disclosure of Electronic Documents (Ministry of Justice)
3. Family Procedure Rules, Practice Direction 27A — Court bundles (Ministry of Justice)

Sources were opened and checked on 2026-10-17. Laws and rules change; always read the current version.