The best custody app for working with your lawyer (2026)

Full disclosure: we make Custody Proof, one of the options below. So yes, we are biased. This guide says plainly when a different kind of tool is the better choice. It compares kinds of tools; for head-to-heads with specific apps, see our comparisons.

Short version: when you hire a family law attorney, the first real work is usually building a timeline. What happened, when, with which child, and what proves it. If your records are a camera roll, a text thread and your memory, someone has to turn that into a timeline. Often that someone bills by the hour.

This guide is for parents who have an attorney or expect to hire one soon. It is not about which tool your lawyer likes best; we have no idea, and neither does any app company. It is about keeping your own records in a shape that is easy to hand over, and about asking your attorney the right questions before you start exporting things.

TL;DR

The deciding question is what your attorney actually wants. Ask first. Then pick a tool that lets you keep records the day things happen and produce them in that form: a dated summary they can read in minutes, with the originals available behind it.

Best for a private, exportable record you keep yourself: Custody Proof (ours).
Best if your attorney has a set intake process: your attorney’s own intake process. It wins.
Best for preserving originals: the original files, kept untouched, wherever they already live.
Best low-cost organizer: a dated spreadsheet timeline with links to the originals.

Option	Best for	Price	Who can see it
Custody Proof (ours)	keeping your own dated custody, incident and expense record, then exporting it as PDF or CSV when your attorney asks	$14.75/month or $144/year (Case Builder with the AI assistant: $29/month or $278/year). 30-day money-back guarantee on your first charge	Only you. The other parent is never invited and never notified.
Your attorney’s own intake process	anyone whose attorney already has a questionnaire, template or upload system	Part of your engagement	You and your attorney’s office
The original files, kept untouched	preserving exactly what you received, in case your attorney wants originals	Free	Only you
A spreadsheet timeline	a free, sortable summary that points to your originals	Free	Only you, if you keep the file private
A shared co-parenting app	communication with the other parent that your attorney can later review	Varies by product, often per parent and by feature tier	Both parents, and often invited professionals

Why the format of your records matters once you have a lawyer

Family law is commonly billed by the hour, and reading is part of the work. A folder of four hundred unlabeled screenshots has to be opened, dated, sorted and summarized before anyone can use it. A one-page summary of overnights and a list of dated incidents, each pointing to the screenshot behind it, can be read quickly. We are not promising that saves you any particular amount. We are saying the organizing has to happen somewhere, and it is easier to do as you go than to reconstruct.

Organized does not mean edited. Your attorney may want the raw originals, not a version you cropped, retyped or summarized. Keep the original screenshot, the original file, the original message. Summaries help someone find things; originals are what a summary points to. Whether something can be used, and how, is your attorney’s call, not an app’s and not ours.

And timing matters. A record written the day something happened tends to be clearer than one written months later. That is true whatever tool you use. Our guide to documenting custody for court covers what a useful daily note looks like.

Questions to ask your attorney before you export anything

What format do you want? PDF summary, spreadsheet, original files, or all three.
How far back? The whole history, or a specific period such as since the last order.
Originals or copies? Whether they want the native files, and how they want them delivered.
What not to send? Some attorneys prefer you do not forward certain material until they have reviewed it.
How should I write notes going forward? Ask whether they want anything recorded differently from now on.

1. Custody Proofours

Best for: keeping your own dated custody, incident and expense record, then exporting it as PDF or CSV when your attorney asks
Price: $14.75/month or $144/year (Case Builder with the AI assistant: $29/month or $278/year). 30-day money-back guarantee on your first charge
Who can see it: Only you. The other parent is never invited and never notified.

This is ours. It is a private record you keep, not a portal your lawyer logs into. You log overnights and timed visits on a calendar, flag a violation with a note on the day it happens, and keep screenshots, photos and documents in an encrypted, timestamped evidence vault, tagged by which children they are about. Expenses go in a ledger with receipts.

When your attorney asks, you export. The detailed report and the statistics summary come out as PDF or CSV, with nights per child, percentages capped at 100%, and a distinction between nights and child-nights for families with more than one child. If you set up your schedule from your order, reports include a planned vs. actual section showing which days differed. The CSV is there for an attorney or paralegal who wants to sort the rows themselves.

If you are coming from another app, you can import your own calendar history from its export file, and there are copy-paste prompts for other formats. On the Case Builder plan, the Vero assistant turns typed notes, screenshots and voice memos into drafts you review before anything is saved, which helps when the backlog is the problem.

Where it falls short: It is not an attorney portal and does not share anything with your lawyer for you. You export and send. Files you upload are stored in the app; keep the source files on your phone or computer too.

2. Your attorney’s own intake process

Best for: anyone whose attorney already has a questionnaire, template or upload system
Price: Part of your engagement
Who can see it: You and your attorney’s office

If your attorney has a set way of receiving records, that wins over any tool on this list, including ours. Fill in their questionnaire. Use their timeline template. Upload to the place they tell you to. Their process is built around how they work your case, and fighting it costs time.

A private record still helps here, because you will have the dates and details ready when the questionnaire asks for them. But the export format is theirs to choose.

Where it falls short: It usually covers intake, not the months of daily notes that come after. Ask how they want ongoing updates.

3. The original files, kept untouched

Best for: preserving exactly what you received, in case your attorney wants originals
Price: Free
Who can see it: Only you

Some lawyers want raw originals: the actual message thread, the actual email, the photo file as your phone saved it. Whatever else you do, do not delete them, crop them, or replace them with a retyped version. Back them up somewhere separate from your phone.

Originals are not a record on their own, though. Without a date, a child and a sentence about why it matters, a screenshot is just a picture.

Where it falls short: No organization, no totals, and hard to find the one you need.

4. A spreadsheet timeline

Best for: a free, sortable summary that points to your originals
Price: Free
Who can see it: Only you, if you keep the file private

One row per event: date, time, child, what happened in one factual sentence, and the file name or location of the original. Sorted by date, it is close to what many attorneys build anyway. Ask your attorney whether this format suits them before you spend hours on it.

Where it falls short: Night counting and totals are manual and easy to get subtly wrong, and nothing prompts you to keep it current.

5. A shared co-parenting app

Best for: communication with the other parent that your attorney can later review
Price: Varies by product, often per parent and by feature tier
Who can see it: Both parents, and often invited professionals

If your order or your attorney puts you on a shared app, use it for every message about the kids. A logged message history both parents can see is a different thing from your private notes, and attorneys often want both. Some shared apps let professionals view the record directly.

Where it falls short: The other parent sees everything there. Your private notes, your questions for your lawyer and your drafts do not belong in it.

Our pick

Ask your attorney what they want first. If they have a process, follow it. If they say “send me whatever you have, organized”, keep a private record from today, export it as PDF or CSV, and keep every original file untouched alongside it. Custody Proof does the record and the export; it does not replace their judgement about what to use.

If you have not hired anyone yet, start the record now anyway. The first meeting goes differently when you can hand over a dated summary than when you have to describe two years from memory.

What we’d do today

Ask your attorney, or write down to ask at your first meeting: what format, how far back, originals or copies, and how to deliver them.
Back up your phone’s photos and messages somewhere other than the phone. Do not delete or edit anything.
Make a one-page list of the ten events you think matter most, each with a date and where the proof is.
Start a daily habit: one dated, factual line the day anything custody-related happens.
Before sending anything, re-read it once for opinions and adjectives. Facts are easier for your attorney to work with.

Questions

Do lawyers prefer Custody Proof?

We do not know, and we will not claim they do. Attorneys have their own processes and preferences. Custody Proof keeps your private record and exports it as PDF or CSV; ask your attorney what format they want.

Will organized records lower my legal bill?

We cannot promise that. Billing depends on your attorney and your case. Organized, dated records can make it quicker for anyone to find what matters, but how your attorney uses them is up to them.

Should I give my lawyer summaries or the original files?

Ask. Many attorneys want both: a dated summary to read and the untouched originals behind it. Never replace an original with an edited or retyped version.

Can my attorney log in to my Custody Proof account?

No. Custody Proof is for one parent and has no attorney access. You export reports as PDF or CSV and send them however your attorney asks.

Is anything in the app legal advice?

No. Custody Proof is not a law firm. Whether a record is useful or usable in your case is a question for your attorney.

Try Custody Proof

A private record for one parent. The other parent is never invited and never notified. Documentation is $14.75/month or $144/year. If it isn't right for you, refund yourself from Settings within 30 days of your first charge.

Start your record

Custody Proof’s prices and features on this page were checked in October 2026. The other options are described as categories, not products, so check any specific app’s current terms before you rely on it.