Private journal
A dated custody journal they cannot see and cannot edit.
One place to write down what happened, the day it happened, in your own words — held in your account, not in a shared app.
Scout is free. They never get a login.
Most parents in a hard custody case are keeping notes somewhere already: a phone notes app, a paper calendar, screenshots, a long email to themselves. It works until someone asks for it in order, with dates, and you spend a weekend trying to rebuild eight months from memory.
A custody journal is just that record, kept properly. Each entry has a date and a time. Each entry says what was supposed to happen and what actually did. Nothing is shared, so there is no audience to perform for and no one who can go back and change it.
What to log
- Exchanges
- Set time, actual time, location, who handed over the children.
- Missed or shortened time
- What the order gave you and what you actually got.
- Calls and video
- Scheduled calls that happened, were cut short, or were refused.
- Holidays
- The holiday block from your order beside what happened on the day.
- Messages
- The thread itself, saved with its dates, before it can be deleted.
- Money
- Medical, school, and activity costs, and whether you were paid back.
In the appWrite it down takes one tap from Today, and every entry lands on the timeline with its date.
From journal to something you can hand over
Entries are not the end of it. Your journal becomes a short dated chronology, an exhibit list, and totals for missed time and unreimbursed money — printed on letter pages your attorney can read at ten at night without decoding screenshots.
Scout is free. They never get a login.
Questions parents ask
Can the other parent see my custody journal?
No. Entries live in your account only. They never get a login, are never notified, and cannot edit or delete anything you wrote.
What should I write in a custody journal?
The date and time, what was scheduled, what actually happened, who was there, and what was said. Facts, in the order they happened.
How soon should I write an entry?
The same day, ideally the same hour. Details like exact minutes and exact wording fade fast, and a dated entry made at the time reads very differently from a summary written months later.
Should I write how I felt about them?
Keep name-calling and diagnoses out of it. Write what happened. A calm, dated list of facts is harder to argue with than an accusation.
Keep reading
Custody Ninja is a documentation tool. It is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice. Talk to an attorney about your order and your case.
Custody Ninja is a documentation tool. It is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.