Can You Record Somebody Who is Lying to You on the Phone

I live in California and I have been talking to a man I met online for over 7 years now who also lives in California. I recently have found out he has been lying about being married for almost 2 years now and still communicates with me under the premise that he is single and would be interested in dating me if we lived closer. He calls me 3 or 4 times a week and it always involves this same deep seeded lie of being a bachelor.

My question here is this... Can I record our phone conversations and not be sued later?

All I want to do is let his wife know what a dirtbag he is but I don't want to go to jail for it. We solely talk on the phone now so I have no proof without some kind of recording. Recording without telling him is illegal from my understanding... but what if I tell him he is on speakerphone and then record? And what if he leaves voicemails?

I'm assuming she has no idea who I am so I will need something other than "my word" to prove any of this.

Q: My question here is this... Can I record our phone conversations and not be sued later?

A: Yes and no. We can't guarantee what anyone is going to do in the future.

Thanks for the response but is it illegal to make a recording of a voicemail?

He would obviously know he is being recorded in that circumstance and that it can be replayed for anyone I choose. Is there still reasonal expectations of privacy in that case? Or in the case where he is told he is on speakerphone? What is illegal exactly?

California is an "all party consent" state, which means you're not allowed to record people without their consent.

A voicemail message is already a recording. If somebody leaves you a recorded message such as a voicemail or answering machine message, they've implicitly consented to being recorded. Note that this is different than secretly using an answering machine to record a conversation - I'm speaking of somebody knowingly leaving a recorded message.