How do you document?

twister22 · January 2013

Just curious, how do you all document things? How do you format it and how do you store it?

Ilumine · January 2013

We print out everything and then use one of those accordian file folders.

We file chronologically and then file copies in different areas, like transportation issues, or medical issues or parental alienation.

We also keep copies of everything electronically, on the external hard-drive we keep all of our info on.

Holly_1007 · January 2013

we have a 3 ring binder with a few different tabs in it. thebulk section is chronological order and contains things such asbm revoking visitation, throwing temper tantrums in front of sd etc. we have a seperate tab for all lawyer communication (alos chronological) any bills related to sd

everything is typed, that way i can write it and dh proof read or he write it and i proof read and no one will know which of us did the writing, and because both of our handwriting sucks (we each read everything that gets put into the folder despite who writes it)

on my phone sorry for typos

loooking forward to seeing if anyone has a better way to do this!

CFjo2010 · January 2013

Ilumine:
We print out everything and then use one of those accordian file folders.nbsp; We file chronologically and then file copies in different areas, like transportation issues, or medical issues or parental alienation. We also keep copies of everything electronically, on the external harddrive we keep all of our info on.

This is exactly how we do it as well. If an email is sent to BM with a copy of a bill she is responsible for, we attach the email to the bill to be filed under "bills" and a copy of the bill attached to the email to be filed under "communications". We also attach copies of checks to each bill paid. Everything is scanned and saved on an external hard drive so that we can easily email stuff to the attorney when/if needed. We document things that occur in person during exchanges or verbal discussions that occur with as much detail as possible date, time, place, people who either saw or heard what happened, etc and file that away. If K says something that requires a follow up with BM we document what K said, how DH brought it up with BM and then BM's reaction/response.

Documenting is a really involved process and takes a lot of time to be quite honest. We crossreference EVERYTHING so that it's easier to find later if we need to. Sometimes it's a headache keeping track of all of it and I've often wondered if we really need ALL this stuff, but the times we have needed to pull up some trivial email or text we were glad we had it.

sabrina69barnes · January 2013

We don't document much anymore. I used to keep records of everything because that's what everyone says to do. It turns out that the majority of it is useless in court. What seems to be common sense and what the law cares about have been very very different in our experience.

Documenting things is most helpful in helping you remember details if you need to recall them later. I have a very good memory. Every once in a while I'll write a quick note to myself on the calendar but that's about it. BM refuses to communicate with DH in anyway that involves a computer or any other written form. Recorded phone calls are pretty useless so there isn't much we can document that actually proves anything.

twister22 · January 2013

Ilumine:
We print out everything and then use one of those accordian file folders.
We file chronologically and then file copies in different areas, like transportation issues, or medical issues or parental alienation.
We also keep copies of everything electronically, on the external hard-drive we keep all of our info on.

Thanks. Right now it's all on one document and is PITA to find anything. I like the idea of cross referencing as well as having hard copies.

Thank you everyone for your input!

guilletskichuk · January 2013

sabrina69barnes:
We don't document much anymore. I used to keep records of everything because that's what everyone says to do. It turns out that the majority of it is useless in court. What seems to be common sense and what the law cares about have been very very different in our experience.
Documenting things is most helpful in helping you remember details if you need to recall them later. I have a very good memory. Every once in a while I'll write a quick note to myself on the calendar but that's about it. BM refuses to communicate with DH in anyway that involves a computer or any other written form. Recorded phone calls are pretty useless so there isn't much we can document that actually proves anything.

Same here. I like all of the above-mentioned methods of documentation and think they're great. However, our experience has been the same as sabrina mentioned. The court has had no interest in anything my DH and I have documented over the years. It has been very discouraging. So we only document the big things to help jog our memories in the future. Yes, also in case DH can present them in court, but it's doubtful that he'll be able to so we don't document minor, petty details.

FutureMrsWittig · January 2013

We have a private blog that only DH, me and our lawyer can access. We have it this way so we can access it anywhere we can access the internet and we are both able to add to it. It's all able to be printed out should we need it.

Want a personalized experience?

How do you document?

Re: How do you document?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards