Florida Modern-Data Preservation Checklist

This resource is a one-page checklist for Florida business owners and their counsel who need to preserve modern messaging data — text messages, workplace chat, ephemeral apps, and cloud files — the moment a dispute becomes foreseeable, before routine retention settings destroy the most relevant records.

The duty to preserve evidence attaches when litigation is reasonably foreseeable, which is often the day a demand letter arrives — not the day a complaint is filed. This checklist walks through the six steps that make preservation defensible: identifying custodians and data sources, recognizing the trigger, suspending every automated deletion, collecting in a way that preserves metadata, handling personal (BYOD) devices, and documenting the chain of custody.

It is a practical planning document, not a substitute for legal advice. If a dispute is already foreseeable, or a key employee is leaving with relevant data on a phone or in a chat channel, the checklist should be paired with prompt attorney-directed preservation before any device is wiped or any account is closed.

What the PDF covers

• The five modern data sources that vanish first: texts, workplace chat, ephemeral apps, cloud files, and BYOD devices.
• How to fix the moment the duty to preserve attaches.
• The automated deletions and offboarding processes to suspend in writing — and who suspends them.
• Why metadata-preserving collection beats screenshots, and how to document the chain of custody.