A chronology of events for family court.

What a family court chronology is

A chronology of events is a neutral, dated list of the key things that have happened in your matter. Each line is a date, a short factual description of what happened, and, where you have it, a note of the document that supports it. It is not your side of the story or an argument about who was right. It is the running order that a registrar, a judge, or your own lawyer can read to follow what happened and when.

Family law in Australia is federal. Most parenting and property matters are dealt with by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. Western Australia is the exception, with its own Family Court of Western Australia. Wherever your matter sits, the job of a chronology is the same: set the facts out clearly, in order.

What to include

Aim for comprehensive but focused, the events that bear on the issues and not much else. Depending on your matter, that usually means:

• Relationship dates: when you began living together, married if you did, and the date of separation.
• Parenting arrangements: the care pattern for the children and any changes to it, such as who the children lived with and when that shifted.
• Incidents: safety-related events, police involvement, or medical presentations, recorded plainly with the date.
• Key communications: an important message, email or letter that changed something or recorded an agreement.
• Financial events: for a property matter, things like property bought or sold, large transactions, and who paid what.

Against each entry, note what proves it, for example "see text message, 3 March", "GP letter", or "bank statement". An evidence note lets a reader move straight from a date to the document behind it.

What to leave out

This is the part people find hardest, and it is the part that makes a chronology work. Leave out argument, opinion, and anything that reads as an attack on the other person. How something made you feel, what you think it proves, and what you believe the other person intended all belong in a statement or affidavit, not here. A chronology that sticks to facts and dates is easier to follow and much harder to pick apart.

Keeping entries neutral and factual

Write each event the way a bystander would describe it. Name what happened, give the date, and stop there. Swap loaded words for plain ones and describe the behaviour rather than your label for it. If you are recording something that was said but cannot remember the exact words, the phrase courts use is "words to the effect of". If you are unsure of a date, give your best estimate and write "approximately", or use a range like "early March 2026". A rough date is far better than dropping the event.

Parenting and property are two different threads

Family law matters usually fall into two areas, and it helps to keep them clear in your mind as you build the timeline. Parenting is about the arrangements for the children, where the guiding question is what is in the children's best interests. Property, or financial, is about dividing assets, debts and other financial matters after a relationship ends. Many people have both running at once. One chronology can hold both, but a reader will follow it more easily if a parenting event reads as a parenting event and a financial event reads as a financial event. This is general information about how the two threads differ, not advice about your matter.

Your information, and keeping it safe

Case Timeline runs in your browser. What you type stays on your own device and is not uploaded to a server, and nothing is saved or shared unless you choose to export it. That matters most when your entries are sensitive, such as details of family violence, a child's safety, or private communications.

Keep a copy somewhere safe that the other person cannot reach, and think about who might see your screen or your files. If using a shared or monitored device is a risk, use one you trust.

New to this? The case timeline guide walks through the whole process, and how to write a chronology for court goes deeper on wording and formatting. When you are ready, start from a chronology template or build it straight in the tool.

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:

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