How to build a case timeline, explained.

What a chronology actually is

A chronology presents the key events of your matter in date order, so anyone reading it can follow your story at a glance. It is a roadmap: each line is a date, what happened, and (often) a note of what proves it. Lawyers, courts and tribunals use them constantly, and many will ask you for one. Legal Aid suggests bringing a draft chronology to your first appointment, because it saves everyone time and money.

What to include

A good chronology is comprehensive but focused: the events that bear on the issues, and little else. Depending on your matter, that might be:

• Milestones: the start of living together, marriage, births, the date of separation.
• Significant incidents: safety-related events, police involvement, medical presentations, any orders made.
• Procedural steps: applications filed, orders made, attempts at dispute resolution, and any breaches.
• Key changes: changes in living or care arrangements, school or job changes, important health events.

What to leave out

This is the part people find hardest, and it matters. Leave out opinion and argument. Your interpretation, how it made you feel, characterisations of the other person, and your legal argument all belong in your statement or your submissions, not in the chronology. Also leave out minor detail and background that does not help the reader. A tight timeline is easier to follow, and far harder to pick apart.

Handling dates you are unsure of

You will not remember every date exactly, and that is completely normal. Give your best estimate and write "approximately", or use a date range like "early March 2026". Recording an event with a rough date is far better than dropping it. For something that was said when you cannot recall the exact words, the phrase courts use is "words to the effect of".

Note your evidence

This is the single most useful habit. Against each event, note what backs it up: "see text message, 14 Mar", "GP letter", "email to agent", "bank statement". An evidence reference against each entry turns your chronology into a guide to your case, so a reader can move straight from a date to the document that proves it. In the Case Timeline builder, the note field and the tag are exactly where this goes.

Keep it yours, and keep it private

Your matter is personal, and often painful. You should not have to upload sensitive material to a stranger's server just to get organised. The Case Timeline builder runs entirely in your browser: nothing you type is uploaded, nothing is stored on a server, and nothing is saved unless you export it yourself. You decide what to keep and who to share it with.

Where this comes from

The primary sources behind the above, so you can check any of it yourself rather than take our word for it:

• Legal Aid NSW, the state body that provides free legal information, advice and representation, and publishes guidance on preparing for an appointment.
• Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, the court that deals with most family law matters outside Western Australia, and publishes its own forms and procedural material.
• Wikipedia: Chronology, a general explanation of what a chronology is and how events are arranged in order.