Incident log template for co-parenting

Copyable incident record

INCIDENT ID: INC-[YEAR]-[NUMBER]
EVENT DATE/TIME: [exact / approximate]
RECORDED DATE/TIME:
LOCATION:
PEOPLE PRESENT:
EXPECTED CONTEXT: [schedule, agreement or reason]
DIRECT OBSERVATIONS IN ORDER:
1.
2.
3.
EXACT WORDS: [speaker + exact quote]
REPORTED INFORMATION: [source + statement]
OBSERVABLE EFFECT:
ACTION TAKEN:
PROFESSIONAL / REFERENCE NUMBER:
EVIDENCE IDS:
LIMITATIONS:
DATED ADDENDUM: [never overwrite the original]
CHRONOLOGY LINE:

Before and after: emotional versus factual

Before: He exploded at the handover, terrified our daughter and deliberately made a scene because he is unstable. After: At 18:07 outside North Street station, R raised his voice and said, “You always ruin everything.” A stepped behind me, covered both ears and cried for approximately two minutes. I moved with A into the staffed ticket hall. Witness: station employee at the barrier; name unknown. Evidence: audio begins after the quoted words, AUD-012. I can't determine R's motive or mental state. The first version blends an event with interpretation and diagnosis. The rewrite keeps audible words, visible behaviour, protective action, a source and an honest limitation.

Label every sentence before you save

Use three labels during review:

• Event: what you directly saw or heard, with time and place
• Interpretation: a conclusion about motive, personality, cause or future risk
• Evidence: a message, image, audio file, receipt, witness or professional record that may support a statement

Delete or relocate interpretation. Attribute information you didn't observe: Teacher emailed that... is accurate; The child was late to school overstates your basis if you only saw the email. Evidence has limits: an image can show a scene, but it may not establish what occurred before or after it.

Incident decision tree

1. Is anyone in immediate danger? Contact the appropriate emergency or safeguarding service; recordkeeping comes second.
2. Did you directly observe the event? Put it in direct observations. If not, identify the source.
3. Are exact words important? Quote only words you can reproduce accurately; otherwise state that you are summarizing.
4. Is there supporting material? Preserve the original and assign a stable evidence ID.
5. Did new information arrive later? Add a dated addendum; don't rewrite the initial entry.
6. Does it belong in a broader pattern? Add one chronology line, then let the source entry retain the detail.

Fit the incident into the chronology

A chronology line should be shorter than the record: 03 Aug 2026 18:07 | Exchange incident | Raised voice; child covered ears and cried; moved to staffed area | INC-2026-018; AUD-012. Later information gets its own line: 05 Aug | Evidence received | Station incident reference supplied | REF-006 linked to INC-2026-018. Don't combine separate events to make them sound continuous. Keep ordinary exchanges in the surrounding chronology so a reviewer can assess frequency and context. The factual incident report guide explains the writing method behind each field.