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What to do if…
you receive a legal hold or preservation notice to keep records for a case

Produced and maintained by PanicStation.org Published: Last reviewed: Editorial policy USA guide

Short answer

Stop deleting, editing, resetting, wiping, or “cleaning up” anything that may be connected to the case. Preserve the notice, keep devices and accounts as they are, and send the notice to your lawyer, your company’s legal team, or the contact named in the notice as soon as you can.

Do not do these things

  • Don’t delete, edit, “clean up,” or selectively remove texts, DMs, photos, emails, files, call logs, notes, calendar entries, or social posts connected to the issue.
  • Don’t factory-reset devices, wipe drives, replace phones, reinstall apps, or migrate data unless a lawyer or legal-hold contact tells you how to preserve first.
  • Don’t turn on or expand disappearing messages, auto-delete, or routine cleanup settings.
  • Don’t keep only screenshots while deleting originals; screenshots can lose context and technical details.
  • Don’t rewrite, backdate, rename, or reorganize records to make them look clearer.
  • Don’t ask anyone else to delete, hide, edit, or “fix” anything for you.
  • Don’t guess what is important and delete the rest.

What to do now

  1. Save the notice and freeze deletion.

    • Keep the notice itself, including the envelope, email headers, attachments, or delivery details if you have them.
    • Stop routine deletion in email, messaging apps, cloud storage, photos, downloads, notes, and shared folders.
    • Where you can safely do so, turn off disappearing messages, auto-delete, and cleanup tools for relevant accounts or chats.

  2. Preserve devices and accounts as they are.

    • Keep phones, computers, tablets, external drives, memory cards, backups, and account logins available.
    • Do not reset, wipe, upgrade, trade in, or discard a device that may hold relevant messages, photos, or records.
    • If an old phone or laptop might contain relevant material, charge it if needed, then set it aside safely.

  3. Read only enough of the notice to understand the scope.

    • Look for the date range, names, topics, case name or number, and types of records mentioned.
    • Think about places the records may exist: texts, messaging apps, email, cloud storage, social media, work chat, shared drives, backups, paper files, photos, and videos.
    • If the scope is unclear, preserve broadly for now rather than deciding what to delete.

  4. Tell the right legal contact as soon as you can today.

    • If you have a lawyer, send the notice to them.
    • If this is about work, send it to your legal department, General Counsel, compliance contact, or the person named in the notice.
    • Ask in writing what to do about company systems such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, Teams, shared drives, backups, retention settings, or issued devices.

  5. Make a short preservation log.

    • Write down when and how you received the notice.
    • Write down the immediate steps you took, such as turning off auto-delete, setting aside an old phone, or stopping a cleanup tool.
    • Keep the log factual and dated; do not use it to argue the case.

  6. Avoid accidental loss from syncing.

    • If deleting or changing something on one device could sync to other devices, stop making changes and ask for instructions.
    • Do not delete “as a test” to see what happens.
    • Do not disconnect, overwrite, or change backup settings unless a lawyer or legal-hold contact tells you how.

  7. Do not collect or produce records on your own unless instructed.

    • For now, the goal is preservation, not sorting, explaining, or sending everything.
    • Keep potentially relevant material intact until a lawyer, legal team, court order, subpoena, or authorized contact tells you how collection should happen.
    • If you think something relevant was already deleted, write down what happened and get legal advice before trying to recover or replace it.

  8. If law enforcement or a criminal case is involved, keep it simple.

    • Preserve what you have.
    • If you have a lawyer, public defender, or appointed counsel, route questions through them.
    • If you do not have counsel, avoid guessing about what to say or provide; focus on preserving records and seeking legal advice.

What can wait

  • You do not need to decide today whether to settle, sue, plead, confess, explain the whole story, or give a detailed narrative.
  • You do not need to decide what is helpful or harmful.
  • You do not need to organize, rename, summarize, or “clean” files.
  • You generally do not need to produce records immediately unless there is a court order, subpoena, or formal deadline; even then, get legal advice as quickly as possible.
  • You do not need to contact the other side unless your lawyer, legal team, or the notice itself tells you to do that.

Important reassurance

A preservation notice or litigation hold can be routine when a dispute, investigation, or case is possible. The safest first move is usually calm preservation: stop deletion, keep devices and accounts intact, and get the notice to the right legal contact.

Scope note

These are first steps only. Later decisions about collection, review, privilege, production, objections, deadlines, or recovery of deleted material may need a lawyer or specialist e-discovery help.

Important note

This is general information, not legal advice or professional advice. Rules and expectations vary by court, state, agency, case type, and the exact wording of the notice.

Additional Resources

Closely connected guides that may be useful during the same situation or its immediate aftermath.

About this guide

This guide was produced and is maintained by PanicStation.org using its published editorial process. Official and specialist sources are checked where relevant, and AI-assisted tools may be used for drafting, organisation, and consistency checks. The site operator remains responsible for publication, revision, and removal decisions.

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