Help center — FAQ

Start with one real event, not a giant backlog project. Sign in with Google, set up your child and custody schedule, then create one entry for something recent like an exchange, a schedule change, an important message, or an expense.

If you only do those three things, you already have a foundation. You can build from there instead of waiting until life feels organized enough, because let's be honest, it usually never does.

Keep it factual and boring in the best way: date, time, what happened, who was involved, and any evidence you already have like screenshots, receipts, or photos. Write what you saw or experienced, not what you think the other parent secretly meant.

A short clean entry is better than a dramatic essay. The goal is a record you or your attorney can review later without having to decode your mood from that day.

Focus on the stuff that tends to matter later: custody exchanges, missed or late parenting time, schedule changes, co-parent communication, school updates, medical issues, child-related expenses, and any incident that shows a pattern. If there is a supporting file, attach it right away while it is easy to find.

You do not need to log every tiny annoyance. You do want a consistent record of facts that explain what is actually happening over time.

Update it as close to real events as you reasonably can. Documentation gets weaker when it depends on memory, so same day is ideal for exchanges, incidents, communication problems, and expenses.

You do not need to turn this into a second job. A few clean entries each week, written while details are fresh, beats trying to reconstruct two months of chaos on a Sunday night.

Yes. Custody Journal is built around more than one record type, so you can keep journal entries, custody exchanges and schedule issues, communication notes, expenses, and supporting files in one place. That makes it easier to see patterns instead of shoving everything into one giant timeline blob.

Use the structure on purpose. Schedule problems belong with schedule tracking, money issues belong with expenses, and supporting screenshots or documents should live with the event they support.

Yes. Custody Journal supports file attachments and encrypted document storage, so your record does not have to live as plain text only. You can keep screenshots, receipts, school documents, and other supporting files tied to the entries they belong to.

That matters because custody evidence gets useless fast when it is scattered across your phone, downloads folder, and ten random text threads.

Your entries are not shared with your ex by default. Custody Journal keeps your records in your account unless you deliberately share something like a report or document with an attorney or another approved recipient.

The platform also uses encrypted document storage and audit-trail style record keeping. Translation: this is meant to be a much more serious home for custody records than your notes app or camera roll.

Yes. Custody Journal is designed to work on phone, tablet, and desktop browsers, which is important because most custody documentation happens in the middle of real life, not at a perfect desk setup.

If something happens at pickup, after a text exchange, or when an expense hits, log it while it is fresh. Future-you will be extremely grateful current-you did not wait.

Yes. Custody Journal includes report generation, summaries, and document-sharing tools so you can prepare cleaner exports for attorney review and court prep. The value is organization: clearer dates, better supporting records, fewer missing pieces.

To be clear, that still does not equal legal advice or guaranteed admissibility. It just means you are showing up with a usable record instead of a panic-folder full of screenshots.

You can start on the Free plan and begin documenting right away. The current free tier allows up to 10 journal entries per month, and paid plans include a 14-day free trial so you can test the fuller workflow before committing.

Upgrade when you are running into the limit or you want the more complete documentation flow. The point of paying is not prestige or whatever, it is getting the full system when your case actually needs it.