Custody evidence checklist — for UK parents

How to read this in the UK

Three things need to stay separate in a record. What the arrangement says, what actually happened, and the file that shows it. Blur them together and a reader has to take your word for it. Keep them apart and the record speaks for itself.

The UK is not one family-law system. England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own rules, forms and vocabulary. Use the words that appear in your own order or agreement rather than a term borrowed from somewhere else.

Keep the complete source file, not a crop of it. Write events in the order they happened, and say plainly where something is missing or unclear. A family solicitor can work with a record like that. They cannot work with a reconstruction.

Locality checklist for a UK review

Name the UK nation and court. Copy the key words from the current order or plan. Add places only when they help explain the event. Remove home or school addresses if the reader does not need them. Check the right court rules before you use a private timeline as a formal record.

The eight categories

• Orders and agreements: current custody order, parenting plan, informal written agreements, relevant emails where terms were agreed.
• Parenting time records: your log of scheduled vs actual time, missed exchanges, makeup time. See how to prove parenting time.
• Messages records: major texts and emails, kept as screenshots plus originals. A running messages log.
• Expense records: child-related costs with receipts, who paid, repayment requests and outcomes.
• School records: attendance, report cards, teacher messages, who attended conferences and events.
• Medical records: appointments, who scheduled and attended, treatment decisions, insurance issues.
• Photos and video: dated, with context — what it shows and why it matters.
• Witness information: names and contact details of people who observed relevant events (teachers, coaches, neighbors, family). Note what each actually witnessed.

Preservation rules that prevent regret

• Keep originals. A screenshot of a text is a copy. The thread on the phone is the original. Don't delete threads, emails, or photos after taking a working copy.
• Back up. Use a device backup plus a second appropriate location for critical items.
• Keep metadata. Original photo files may carry timestamps and other metadata that an edited or re-saved copy may lose.
• Record the source date. An undated image or document is harder to place in a timeline.
• Check before recording calls. Rules on recording conversations vary significantly between legal areas and circumstances. Before recording, get qualified local advice or use an official local source. This checklist cannot decide whether a recording would be lawful.

Organizing for review

Clear records are faster to review. Within each type, order items chronologically and label each item with a date plus one line of context, such as "2026-03-06. Complete message thread about a late pickup." Then keep a master timeline of major events across types. A lawyer, solicitor, mediator or adviser can use that timeline to locate the detailed source.

This is what Casewell supports. Entries are categorized and dated as you go, files stay connected to events. Also, the export produces the filtered timeline, expense summary or selected record set that this checklist builds by hand.

What not to bring

Volume alone isn't strength. A large unsorted export takes longer to review and can hide the events that answer the actual question.

Avoid material with no clear connection to the child-focused issue or selected date range. Do not access accounts or material you aren't entitled to access. When relevance or lawful access is uncertain, ask a qualified local expert before including or sharing the item. See preparing custody evidence for the fuller planning process.

A UK review note

A practical custody evidence checklist — the eight record types worth gathering, how to keep originals, one recording-law warning, and how to organize it all for review. Sharing any of it in the UK takes a few more steps.

Before you share any of this, work from a copy. Remove private details the reader does not need, and leave the original file untouched.

Check each key sentence. Can you link it to a date or source? If not, change the summary. Do not fill the gap with a guess.

Name the UK nation and court on the review copy. Keep the words used in the order. Ask a family solicitor about court rules and what you may need to share.