§ 1402 Altered Document Evidence Rules

• •If you show a document in court that looks changed or altered, you have to explain why it looks that way.
• •You can say someone else changed it without you knowing, or everyone agreed to the change, or the change didn’t really matter.
• •If you can’t explain the change, you can’t use the document as proof.

You sign a rental agreement with your landlord, but later someone scribbles over the rent amount to make it higher.

If you try to use that changed agreement in court, you have to explain why the rent amount was scribbled over. If you can’t explain it, the judge won’t let you use it as proof.