Photo disaster and court case looming

[Mangocity]

I am going through a horrific divorce. My ex has the children and is trying to leave town with them. He's very clever and very wealthy. He left me fit only for a psychiatric ward. It's been a year since we split and I don't know if I'll ever have our children with me again. There is a huge legal fight ahead because I'm being erased from their lives piece by piece.

My problem is technical.

I got a new phone in August because my old phone completely died.

My photos were backed up to Google photos or so I thought.

As soon as my new phone booted up, all my ex's photos flooded onto my phone. That was...interesting. He must have left partner sharing on. I switched it off.

But many of my videos and photos are just gone. I'm largely left with his photos. I need my own to provide the barrister with accurate dates. Also, those videos are all I had left of my children.

Can anyone help me?

Why would you turn his partner sharing off? I found old text/WhatsApp messages very useful when I was in a custody battle over DD

Do you still have the old phone?

Can you log into your Google account somewhere (another device or laptop) and check what's on your Google photos?

I don't think anyone can delete them from yours. They can copy photos to their own account but not remove them (as far as I know - I have partner sharing on mine).

Check your settings on your new phone to see how automatically your photos are backed up to Google photos.

And with your old phone, did you view your photos only on the phone's gallery or did you ever use the Google Photos app/ log into it via google?

(Personally I also periodically back up photos/videos to an external hard drive - would recommend as you're not so reliant on a 3rd party service - but depends how much you care about keeping your photos!).

Are you able to log into a laptop with your Google account then visit https://photos.google.com/?pli=1? Hopefully your photos will still be there.

(Have you definitely sync'd your phone with Google? The photos flooding in may come from, for example, Apple iCloud or some similar service).

Jo

Hi sorry you are going through a shit time and I really hope you get to see your children again ((hugs))

Could he have access to your Google account? Try the search and type "bin" and see if anything is there, as takes ages to delete out a Google bin in photos. Maybe contact Google and they can tell you when they were last uploaded?
Also is there any way a phone repair shop could get it back on? Or are they on an SD card in the phone?

Sorry if not much help x

Thank you for the help.

That phone is definitely dead. I could try taking the card out and taking it to someone.

I got a new laptop just before the split. My saved photos were on the old laptop which he still has. I'm sure he has access to anything he wants. He's a computer wizard.

I turned partner sharing off because I was scared of yet another baseless accusation.

I actually had to delete the photos in my bin in front of a police officer because some of the photos that flooded in from his phone were not ok and I had to flag it up. Apparently no abuse is occurring but some work will be done with my ex and the children around boundaries and inappropriate behaviour.

I can try to get into Google photos from my new laptop. I have no idea about the back up. I got very lazy in that respect during the marriage and left everything technical to my ex. Imagine my surprise to find I was director of a company that has been struck off at Companies House...

Such a shit show. Thanks to everyone.

Sounds like a shit show but I do hope you get what you need. SD cards in your phone (if there is one) can be read on your laptop - should be a slot, or you can get a card reader and then plug it into the laptop and see if any photos saved from old phone. Could the police not get the laptop from him for you? I don't get the photos you had to delete out the bin bit though?
Sorry if I'm being thick, it's been a long day.

Obviously divorce is messy but why do people use the kids in it, to hurt the other person :( fully grown adults ffs it's not fair.

Take care x