Documenting for Court · Self-paced class
Learn to turn scattered custody notes into a usable record.
Screenshots, missed exchanges, notes on your phone. What belongs in the record, and what should stay out? Documenting for Court teaches you a consistent way to record events, save originals, and organize information for your attorney.
Self-paced class · Five downloadable resources · $12.95
One-time course purchase. General education, not legal advice. No certificate.
10 lessons + self-check
What to write down, what to leave out, and how to keep your child out of it.
About 1 hour
Self-paced, on your phone or at the kitchen table.
Printable workbook
The Custody Record Log, two checklists, and a monthly summary.
$12.95
An optional skills class. It does not issue a certificate.
More screenshots do not automatically make a clearer record.
Learn to separate what you observed from what someone told you and from your own interpretation. The class shows you a repeatable entry format, ways to preserve original messages and photos, and how to summarize a recurring concern without turning your child into a source of evidence.
From the workbook: the Custody Record Log
These are the ten fields in the printable Custody Record Log. Every entry uses the same ten fields, so a month of notes reads the same way on page one and page thirty.
Sample page · Lesson 4 download
Custody record log
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.
- 1Event date and time
- 2Entry written on
- 3Place / type of message or call
- 4People present
- 5What was scheduled or expected
- 6What I saw, heard, received, sent, or did
- 7Important exact words and who said them
- 8What I noticed in the child
- 9What I did and what happened next
- 10Related original message, file, or court-order paragraph
What the ten fields do
- 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
- Every entry points to the original message, file, or the paragraph of the court order it relates to, so the note and the proof stay together.
$12.95 one-time purchase. Private course access.
This class is for you if...
- 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 downloadable resources
- 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.
Written by a former Guardian ad Litem
Suzanne Dircks, M.A., LMHC, has spent 44 years working with families in custody conflict, including over 1,000 Guardian ad Litem investigations. The useful parent records share a handful of habits, and this class teaches those habits in plain language.
Suzanne Dircks, M.A., LMHC
Licensed Mental Health Counselor | Former Guardian ad Litem
“Good notes are not a list of attacks on the other parent. They are a careful record of important facts that may help the court and other professionals understand what is happening to the children.”
Know what belongs in your custody record
Ten lessons, an optional self-check, and five downloadable resources for your ongoing record-keeping.
$12.95 one-time purchase. General education, not legal advice. No certificate.
Also available
Other courses and focused tools
Each path is designed for a different court, custody, or co-parenting pressure point.
See the full course library- High-Conflict Co-ParentingThe flagship 12-module certificate course for difficult co-parenting dynamics.
- Parental Alienation CourseA structured path for documentation, reconnection, and court-aware next steps.
- Parallel Parenting CourseA lower-contact framework for parents who need clearer boundaries and routines.
- Co-Parenting Communication CourseFocused BIFF practice for emails, texts, exchanges, and written records.
- Alienated Parent ScriptsA practical script library for hard moments with a child, co-parent, or attorney.
- Working With Your Custody Evaluator or GALFive short modules on interviews, home visits, and talking with your child without coaching.
- Navigating Your Custody BattleEleven modules on working with your attorney, preparing for an investigation and court, and keeping your child out of the conflict.