If you have children, part of your divorce process is determining who will have custody of your children. If that was already decided, but now you need to change the custody agreement, you need to work with an attorney specializing in child custody law. If you are battling for custody, your attorney will suggest you do a few things to help win your case.

Keep a Journal

Your attorney may suggest you keep a handwritten journal about what is happening. What you should put in there is when your co-parent calls or picks up your children, if they are late or early, if they don't take their full visitation, and what the state of your children is when they get home. Keeping track of these details as they happen can help prove your case. For example, if you are trying to get primary custody of your children, you may want to show that their other parent is often late to pick them up or early to drop them off or doesn't take their full visitation time. If you write each of those details down in your journal, you can show it to your attorney, who can show it to the judge. You don't need a fancy book to keep track of this; just a regular notebook works well. You want it to be handwritten because it is harder to tamper with a handwritten document, so the other side can't accuse you of making up details.

Follow the Standing Order

You may not want to follow the current custody order, but it is in your best interest to do so. If you are concerned that your children are in danger if the order is followed as written, contact your lawyer immediately so that modifications can be sought. If something happens that makes a custody change not occur as scheduled, like an injury or illness, make sure that the other parent knows and that your attorney knows. You may want to have a doctor's note to prove that your child was sick or injured, just in case anybody questions it. It may be upsetting to you or your children to follow the current custody order, but you need to prove that you are willing to follow what the court orders.

Custody battles are never pleasant. You need to have an attorney who can help you with it to get the custody options you want. Contact a child custody lawyer for more information.