Documenting for your custody case
Documenting for Court teaches you what to record, how to save original messages, and how to summarize events for your attorney.
- 10 reading lessons
- About one hour
- Five downloads
- Self-paced
One-time purchase · About one hour, self-paced · No certificate is issued.
- 44 years
- working with families in custody conflict
- 1,000+
- Guardian ad Litem investigations
Suzanne Dircks, M.A., LMHC, wrote this class from her family-court experience. It teaches a way to keep clearer notes; it cannot predict how a court will use them.
A pile of screenshots isn't a clear record.
The class gives you ten short lessons and five downloads, including a repeatable log for facts, exact words, and the original files behind them.
What to include in each custody record
Use the same ten fields for each entry in the Custody Record Log, so dates, observations, and original messages are easier to find.
Custody Record Log
From the Lesson 4 workbook
Write each entry as soon as you can while you still remember the details. If you write it later, say that. Do not quietly change an old entry. Add a new, dated correction and keep the old entry.
- 01Event date and time
- 02Entry written on
- 03Place / type of message or call
- 04People present
- 05What was scheduled or expected
- 06What I saw, heard, received, sent, or did
- 07Important exact words and who said them
- 08What I noticed in the child
- 09What I did and what happened next
- 10Related original message, file, or court-order paragraph
Keep facts separate from opinions
- Two dates, not one
- The log asks when the event happened and when you wrote it down. If you write an entry later, you say so. An old entry is never quietly changed; a dated correction is added and the original stays.
- What you observed, separate from what you were told
- One field holds what you saw, heard, received, sent, or did. Another holds exact words and who said them. Your opinion about why it happened does not get a field.
- The child, and what you did next
- You record what you noticed in the child without guessing the cause, then what you did about it. A fair reader looks for exactly that.
- Where the original lives
- Each entry points to the original message, file, or court-order paragraph it describes, so you can find the source later.
Write as though your child may read it someday.
Start with the records you already have
- You have a notebook, a notes app, or a folder of screenshots and you are not sure any of it would help.
- You write entries when you are angry and later wish you had written them differently.
- You are not sure whether to save the whole text thread or just the message that matters.
- Your attorney has asked for a summary and you have two hundred pages of messages.
Ten short reading lessons and an optional self-check, about one hour in total. See the full curriculum on the course page.
Five tools for your next entry
Custody Record Log, the same ten fields for every entry
Before you save an entry, an eight-point check
Monthly Problem Summary for your attorney
Checklist for saving original records
A simple weekly record-keeping routine
This is a course, not an app or a legal-forms service. It does not store your records or prepare filings, and it does not issue a certificate.
Frequently asked questions
Is this an app or a legal-form service?
No. It is a self-paced class with downloadable resources; it does not store your custody records or prepare filings. You keep your own record, on paper or in whatever tool you already use.
Will a court admit my notes?
The course does not guarantee admissibility; ask your attorney about local requirements. What it teaches is how to keep a record your attorney can work with: dated, specific, and tied to the original messages.
Does this count as a court-ordered parenting class?
No. It is an optional record-keeping class with no certificate. If a court has ordered you to take a parenting class, see our court-ordered course instead.
Can I take it on my phone?
Yes. The ten lessons are short reading lessons, and the workbook is a printable PDF you can also fill in later at a desk.
Who wrote it?
Suzanne Dircks, M.A., LMHC, a licensed mental health counselor with 44 years in family court and more than 1,000 Guardian ad Litem investigations. The class is her plain-language explanation of what a useful parent record looks like from the professional's side of the table.
Ordered to take a parenting class? Start with the court-ordered course.
Start a clearer record tonight
Ten lessons, an optional self-check, and five downloadable resources for your ongoing record-keeping.
$39.95 one-time purchase. General education, not legal advice. No certificate.