Deepfake Evidence in Family Court: Detection and Sanctions
Jonathan D. Steele is a Divorce and Family Law Partner at Beermann LLP in Chicago. His practice concentrates on high net worth dissolution, contested allocation of parental responsibilities, orders of protection, and complex valuation disputes. He has appeared before the Illinois Appellate Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, handles matters pro hac vice outside Illinois, and has taken more than one hundred depositions, including of expert and forensic witnesses. Jonathan pairs his litigation practice with a working cybersecurity practice and leads Beermann's internal artificial intelligence committee.
2 hour CLE
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Program Summary
It's never been easier to fake a damning text, clone a voice, or doctor a video — and family court is where it does the most damage. Judges in custody and divorce fights often have to act fast, in emergency hearings, on the strength of a screenshot or a recording. If a fabricated one slips through, it can shape who gets the kids.
The rules for proving what's real haven't caught up yet. The federal courts have a new rule for AI evidence in the works, but it isn't in effect and won't be for a while, so for now you're still working with the authentication rules you already know — and with detection tools that are far from foolproof. This session walks through how to tell real from fake, and how to handle the evidence from the moment it comes in — intake, preservation, chain of custody, and discovery — so it holds up when the other side pushes back.
Then it turns to what you can do when you catch a fake: the ways to ask the court for sanctions — contempt, discovery sanctions, having fees shifted to the other side — how to build a record that gets your forensic costs paid back, and the federal options for fighting back against fake intimate images under the TAKE IT DOWN Act.
What Will You Learn
Learn the federal and state authentication framework for AI-fabricated evidence in family court, the sanctions vehicles available in state family courts, and how the TAKE IT DOWN Act applies.
What Will You Gain
Gain a structured intake, preservation, and discovery protocol, the procedural vehicles for sanctions, a motion record that supports fee and cost recovery, and the federal takedown and civil remedies.
Key topics to be discussed:
- Threat landscape
Identify why family court dockets are uniquely exposed to fabricated evidence. - Authentication framework
Apply Rules 901 and 902 and state analogs to suspected AI evidence. - Detection science
Evaluate detector generalization and content provenance limits. - Evidence hygiene
Run intake, preservation, and chain of custody protocols. - Sanctions vehicles
Select appropriate sanctions vehicles, including contempt, discovery sanctions, and fee-shifting statutes. - Intimate imagery
Apply the TAKE IT DOWN Act takedown and civil remedies.
This course is co-sponsored with myLawCLE.
Date / Time: July 28, 2026
- 1:00 pm – 3:10 pm Eastern
- 12:00 pm – 2:10 pm Central
- 11:00 am – 1:10 pm Mountain
- 10:00 am – 12:10 pm Pacific
Closed-captioning available
Speakers
Jonathan D. Steele, Partner | Beermann LLP
Jonathan D. Steele is a Divorce and Family Law Partner at Beermann LLP in Chicago. His practice concentrates on high net worth dissolution, contested allocation of parental responsibilities, orders of protection, and complex valuation disputes. He has appeared before the Illinois Appellate Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, handles matters pro hac vice outside Illinois, and has taken more than one hundred depositions, including of expert and forensic witnesses. Jonathan pairs his litigation practice with a working cybersecurity practice and leads Beermann’s internal artificial intelligence committee.
- Education & Credentials
Jonathan earned his J.D. from The John Marshall Law School and his B.A. from Indiana University. He is licensed in Illinois and admitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He is a Certified Financial Litigator and holds multiple cybersecurity and privacy credentials, including CompTIA Security+, ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity, Cisco Ethical Hacker, and privacy law training from the University of Pennsylvania.
- Recognition & Leadership
Jonathan has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America (2026), as a Leading Lawyer by the Leading Lawyers Network (2026), and among the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin‘s 40 Under Forty Attorneys to Watch (2025). He is the founder of Steele Fortress LLC, a cybersecurity and privacy consulting firm, and leads Beermann’s internal artificial intelligence committee.
- Professional Involvement
Jonathan is a frequent author and presenter on the intersection of technology and family law, including for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education.
- Experience
Jonathan concentrates on high net worth dissolution, contested allocation of parental responsibilities, orders of protection, and complex valuation disputes. His cases routinely turn on digital evidence, from hidden cryptocurrency to manipulated media. He has taken more than one hundred depositions, including of expert and forensic witnesses, and has appeared before the Illinois Appellate Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Agenda
SESSION 1 – Detecting AI-Fabricated Evidence in Contested Custody and Divorce Cases | 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Map the authentication landscape as of mid-2026, including the federal Advisory Committee’s May 2026 deferral of proposed Rule 707, the New York Court of Appeals’ 2026 video authentication reversal, Louisiana Act 250, detection science, and evidence hygiene protocol.
BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm
SESSION 2 – Sanctions Motions and Fee Awards for AI-Fabricated Evidence | 2:10pm – 3:10pm
Examine sanctions options in family courts, including contempt, discovery sanctions, and fee-shifting statutes, while exploring Mendones v. Cushman & Wakefield, the TAKE IT DOWN Act, and the “Liar’s Dividend” in addressing AI-fabricated evidence.
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