Under Texas law, the standards for one-party consent allows recording if at least one participant consents. What does this mean? Some common scenarios in the State of Texas:
- If you and your spouse are having a discussion that you wish to record, you can technically be the person that consents to the recording.
- If you are in a group of people and recording the event, you can be the person that consents to the recording.
- You can record a phone call that you are having another person without informing them that you are recording.
- You cannot place a device in the home or the vehicle to record conversations your spouse with another person unless your spouse has consented to you having the recording device on and operating in the home or the vehicle.
- You cannot utilize an app on your spouse’s phone to record their conversations,.
- You cannot ask a third party to record a call between you and your spouse in which your spouse is unaware someone else is on the call.
However, there are limits to the Texas standards for one-party consent. First, these rules do not apply to other states. Another state may have other rules–and more importantly, there are federal wiretapping laws that would apply for people speaking from different states. Furthermore, you cannot record intimate images without their consent, and doing so will result in a criminal charge. If your spouse has sent you intimate images or video recordings in the past, you cannot share those either (see our post on Revenge Porn).
