Overview

Quick Start Guide

Using the Calendar

Using the Journal

Using the Child Info Screen

Using the Address Book

Using the To-Do List

Using the Print Reports Screen

Options Dialog

Backing Up And Restoring Your Data

Custody Toolbox End User License Agreement (EULA)

Overview

Take control of your custody situation!

Whether you're in a nasty custody battle, a harmonious custody sharing situation, or anywhere in between, Custody Toolbox will help you organize all of your custody-related information.

Custody Toolbox features a calendar, a journal, a child information database, an address book, and a handy to-do list.

The easy-to-use calendar is color coded to make viewing and updating your co-parenting schedule a snap. Plus, you can add events to the calendar (and set alarms for them if you'd like) with just a few mouse clicks. Printing the monthly calendar is easy too.

The custody journal tool can make all the difference if and when your child custody case goes to court. By using it regularly, you'll have a detailed record of custody-related occurrences that you can hand over when your lawyer needs it or the judge asks for it.

Along with the journal, Custody Toolbox includes an expense tracking tool. With it, you won't be left guessing when you try to figure out how much you're paying in custody-related expenses. You'll have a detailed, easy-to-read record right at your fingertips.

The child info tool gives you a place to store important information about your child or children. Record Social Security numbers, medical information, school information, etc. There's even a place to store your custody/holiday schedule agreement so you don't have to pull out the divorce papers to remember the schedule every time a holiday comes around.

Custody Toolbox also has an address book that will remind you when birthdays and anniversaries are coming up and a handy to-do list.

Finally, printing your data couldn't be easier. The "Print Reports" tool consolidates all of your printing options onto one screen.

Quick Start Guide

The main power of Custody Toolbox lies in the Calendar and the Custody Journal. Here's a quick guide to using them.

Calendar
Go to the calendar window, right click on any date then click on "Caregiver Setup." From the window that pops up, you can change the names of the caregivers from the default "Mom" and "Dad" to whatever you want. You can also select the color for each caregiver (the color shows up when you start marking the caregiver schedule on the calendar.)

What is a caregiver?  In Custody Toolbox, a caregiver is a person who shares custody of a child or children.  When you set up the calendar, you'll set a caregiver for each date, giving you a quick, color-coded view of the custody schedule.

Back at the calendar window, just right click on a date and click on who has custody for a particular day to color code that day. Or, if you want to set up the caregiver schedule even faster, do it with the keyboard. Just select a day and hit "1" or "2" on the keyboard. Custody toolbox will set the caregiver for that day according to what you defined in Caregiver Setup. So, you can go through a whole month in just a few seconds by hitting "1" or "2", then the right arrow, then "1" or "2", then the right arrow, etc, etc, etc...

In addition to the color-coded caregiver schedule, you can quickly add events to your calendar by right clicking on a date and selecting "Add New Event." Give it a name, choose whether it's a private or public event, set an alarm for it if you'd like, and click on "Save."

Journal
The purpose of a custody journal is to make a detailed, complete record of the happenings in regard to your child custody. Record a journal entry at least every time you have a transition (drop-off.)

The main value of a custody journal is that it enables you to recall custody-related events, in detail, long after they happen. When recording your journal entries, be careful not to sound angry or bitter as that could cut into your credibility if a judge ever asks to read your journal.

Some courts put stock in custody journals and some do not. Talk to your lawyer about this. You might even want to print a copy every so often and give it to your lawyer or an unbiased third party that can later verify that you didn't write the entire journal the night before court.

Use the expense tracker tool too! You'd be surprised how many custody-related expenses you probably forget about. Record doctor's co-pays, prescription expenses, school fees, daycare costs, etc. You'll be able to run reports later to show you exactly what you paid.

Make sure to back up your data once a week or so. To do that, click on "File" from the main menu and then click on "Backup Data." Then save the backup in your "My Documents" folder or somewhere like that. Since a license for Custody Toolbox allows you to install and use the program on two PCs, you can back up your data to a USB "thumb" drive or e-mail it back and forth to and from work daily to keep up to date in both places.

Congratulations on taking the first step in taking control of your custody situation.

Using the Calendar

You'll soon discover that the calendar tool in Custody Toolbox is going to make dealing with your custody situation easier in a hurry. Not only does it provide an easy way to see your custody schedule at a glance, but you can also use it to schedule any other kind of events - soccer practices, PTA meetings, doctor's appointments, vacations, etc. It shows the birthdays and anniversaries of people in your address book, to-do items that you've specified a due date for, and more.

Navigating Within The Calendar
Click on the and buttons to move between months on the calendar one at a time. To select a specific month and/or year, click on the month and year dropdown buttons between the arrows.

Caregiver Information
To set up your custody schedule, you have to first define who the caregivers will be for your child or children. By default, Custody Toolbox is set up with two caregivers: "Mom" (pink) and "Dad" (blue.) You can just use those names and colors, or you can customize Custody Toolbox with the names of the actual caregivers. There are lots of ways to get to the "Caregiver Setup" screen:

• Right click on any date on the calendar, then click on "Caregiver Setup."
  
• Double-click on a date (or click the "Edit Selected Date" button ) to get to the Events screen (if the Add New Event screen pops up, just cancel it.)
  
• From the main menu, click on Edit > Options and then click on the "Caregiver Setup" button.

From the caregiver setup screen, you can add, change, or delete caregivers from the list. You can also specify color codes for each caregiver. When you're done making changes, click on OK.

Setting Up Your Caregiver Schedule
The color-coded caregiver schedule is one of the best parts about Custody Toolbox. How many times have you had this conversation in your head:

"Let's see, do I have them on May 19th? Today is April 10th and I have them. So, 17th I don't, 24th I do... hmmm... thirty days in April, so 1st I don't, 8th I do, 8 + 7...15th I do, then that would be a Saturday, so Sunday, Monday..."

You get the point. Once you set up your custody schedule, you'll just click on May and look at the 19th. It couldn't be easier - even months in advance.

There are three easy ways to specify the caregiver for a given date:

• Right click on the date, then click on the caregiver who has custody that day.
  
• Double-click on a date (or click the "Edit Selected Date" button ) to get to the Events screen (if the Add New Event screen pops up, just cancel it.) Then click on the "Caregiver for..." box and select the caregiver who has custody that day.
  
• Here's the really fast way to do it: Select a date on the calendar and hit the number key for the caregiver who has custody that day. For example, if "Chris" (green) is set up as caregiver #1 in the Caregiver setup screen, and "Pat" (orange) is set up as caregiver #2, hit the "1" key on your keyboard for Chris or the "2" key on your keyboard for "Pat." Using the number keys with your left hand and the arrow keys with your left hand, you can set a whole month up in seconds.

Adding Events to Your Calendar
There are two ways to add an event to a date on the calendar:

• Right click on a date and click on "Add New Event."
  
• Double-click on a date. Depending on the options setup, if the date didn't have any events in it already, the "Add Event" window might come up automatically. If not, click on the "Add Event" button.

Once the Add Event window pops up, give your event a name, decide whether it's a public event or a private event it you want, and if you'd like, check the "Alarm" checkbox and set an alarm for when you want to be reminded of the event. After that, click on Save.

Deciding Which Events Show Up On Your Calendar

You can use the calendar filter function ( ) to select which type of events will be shown in your calendar. Click on it, select which type of events you want shown, and click on OK. When you print the calendar by using the button, only the events that are currently displayed will be printed.

Going Directly To A Journal Entry
To go to a specific date's journal entry, right click on the date and click on "Go to Journal." That will save you the time of selecting that date once you're on the journal screen.

What do those pictures on the dates mean?
If there's a journal entry for a date on the calendar, Custody Toolbox will display a in the bottom left hand corner of the date. If there are more than three events defined for a particular date, Custody Toolbox will display a in the lower left hand corner reminding you that there's more to see if you double-click on the date.

Using the Journal

Keeping a complete, accurate journal of custody-related happenings can make a big difference in your custody case.
Some judges are interested in the contents of your custody journal, and some are not (ask your lawyer about this.) Even if the judge doesn't want to see your custody journal, it can be a valuable tool when it comes to remembering specifics about your custody case. For example, if you use the journal well, you'll have an answer when the judge asks, "How many times were you denied custody in the last six months?" Try to use the journal often - every day is recommended. At the very least, use it once a week. Record information about:

• All communication between you and the other caregiver(s).
• All communication between you and your lawyer(s).
• All communication between you and your ex-spouse's laywer(s).
• When you were denied parenting time.
• When your ex was late to a pickup.
• When you were late to a pickup.
• When your ex did something good.
• Switch days.
• Your kids' moods.
• Your kids' behavior (especially on switch days.)
• Etc, etc, etc.

Record anything and everything that you can think of. You never know what you'll need to remember later.

When you record information in your journal, try to keep emotion out of it as much as possible. If the judge in your custody case decides that he or she wants to read your journal, the last thing you want him or her to see is the ramblings of an angry, bitter person. The journal is a place to record facts. If the judge reads your journal, he or she can't help but get an idea of what kind of a person you are by reading what you write. As mentioned earlier, be sure to record the good things that the other caregiver does in addition to the bad things.

Tracking Expenses
At the bottom of the Journal screen, there's an expense tracking tool. Use it to record expenses that you incurred that are related to your custody case. Some examples are doctor's co-pays, school fees, prescription costs. You'd be surprised how many expenses you'll forget about if you don't record them. Keep an envelope for receipts to back up each expense that you record.

When you print reports from the Journal tool, you'll be able to select a date range and print Journal only information, Expense only information, or both at the same time.

Using the Child Info Screen

The Child Info tool in Custody Toolbox gives you a handy, easy-to-access, place to keep lots of information about your child or children.

To add a child to the database, just click on the button and type his or her name. Each child that you add to the list will have his or her own tab. Click on a child's tab to see information on him or her.

The categories are:

General Information
Keep social security numbers, birthdays, birthday lists, etc. here.

Custody/Holiday/Visitation Schedule
Here's a great place to keep your visitation agreement, your holiday schedule, and other items from court papers. Wouldn't it be nice to get to your holiday schedule with just a few mouse clicks instead of having to dig out the divorce papers every time you need to know who has the kids next Easter?

School Information
Keep the school's phone number, teacher names, assignment information, or anything school related here.

Medical Information
Enter important medical information here like allergies, medicines, doctor names and numbers, etc.

Of course, these are all just suggestions. You can record anything you want on this screen. It's just a handy way to reference frequently used information. Some folks even have a "Pets" tab, a "Mom" tab, a "Dad" tab, etc, to keep information about other important people in their lives.

Using the Address Book

The Address Book tool in Custody Toolbox provides a simple way to keep track of contact information for your friends, family, babysitters, or anyone else you want to put in there. It's got all of the standard address book fields such as name, address, company, phone numbers, e-mail, birthday, anniversary, etc.

To add a person to your address book in Custody Toolbox, click on the button.

To edit the selected address book entry, click on the button.

To delete the selected address book entry, click on the button.

To print your address book list, click on the button.

To print the address book in different ways (ie: individual contacts, full information list,) use the "Print Reports" tool. Click here for more information on that tool.

You can sort the address book list by any column by clicking on the column header.

If you specify someone's birthday in his or her address book entry and you have birthday reminders turned on in Custody Toolbox Options, Custody Toolbox will pop up a reminder 7 days before his or her birthday. You can "snooze" the reminder or turn it off until the next year.

If you specify someone's anniversary in his or her address book entry and you have anniversary reminders turned on in Custody Toolbox Options, Custody Toolbox will pop up a reminder 7 days before his or her anniversary. You can "snooze" the reminder or turn it off until the next year.

Using the To-Do List

Custody Toolbox includes a handy to-do list.

To add an item to the list, click on the button on the to-do list toolbar.

To edit an item, either double-click it or click on it and then click on the button.

To mark an item as completed, edit the item (see above,) check the "Completed" box, and click OK.

To delete an item, click on the item and then click on the button.

To choose which items will be displayed on your to-do list, click the drop-down box on the to-do list toolbar and select whether to show incomplete items, completed items, or all items.

To print your to-do list, click on the button. Note: When you print with the button from the to-do list toolbar, whatever items you're currently displaying will be printed on your list.

The to-do list also has a handy right-click menu. Just right click on an item in the to-do list and from the menu that pops up, you can add an item, edit the selected item, delete the selected item, or print the to-do list.

Using the Print Reports Screen

Welcome to your Custody Toolbox printing command and control center.
From here, you can print all of the information you've entered in Custody Toolbox in many different ways. This screen is divided up into sections, each dedicated to printing a certain type of information that you've entered. With the exception of printing calendars, clicking the Print button will pop up a preview window showing your completed report. From there, you can go on and print your report or save it in .RTF format. Note: In the trial version of Custody Toolbox, you can't save the report or copy information from it, but you can print it. Once you purchase Custody Toolbox, you'll be able to save your reports (so you can edit them in MS WordPad, MS Word, WordPerfect, etc.) You'll also be able to copy information from your reports and save it in other applications.

Calendar Reports (top left)
To print a monthly calendar, use the drop down buttons to select the month and year you want to print, check the types of events that you want to show up on your printed calendar, and click Print. For the nicest looking, easiest to read calendars, we recommend that you set your page orientation to "Landscape" when your printer options screen pops up.

Journal Reports (top right)
To print a Journal report, select the date range that you want for your report by selecting dates in the "From" and "To" dropdown calendars. Then, if you want a report with only journal entries, select the "Journal Report" radio button. If you want expenses in the journal report, select the "Include Expenses" checkbox next to the "Journal Report" radio button. If you want a report on just expenses, click the "Expense Report" radio button. Finally, click Print.

Child Info Reports (bottom left)
To print out the information you've entered for a child, just select his or her name from the box and click on Print.

Address Book Reports (bottom center)
From here, you can print out a "full detail" address that shows all of the details you've entered for all of the people in your address book, a simplified "phone/e-mail" list that shows phone numbers and e-mail addresses for everyone in your address book, or detailed information about a specific person in your address book. If you choose a "full detail" list or a "phone/e-mail" list, you can choose which field to sort the information by. Note: If you don't specify which field to sort by, Custody Toolbox will sort the report by "Last Name."

To-Do List Reports (bottom right)
To print your to-do list, select which items to display (completed, incomplete, or both,) select which field to sort by, and click Print. Note: If you don't specify which field to sort by, Custody Toolbox will sort the list by "Item Name"

Options Dialog

To see Custody Toolbox's Options Dialog, select Edit | Options from the main menu.

Remind me of birthdays 7 days in advance
If checked, Custody Toolbox will show a reminder 7 days before the birthdays of people in your address book. Just like normal reminders, birthday reminders can be "snoozed" or "dismissed."

Remind me of anniversaries 7 days in advance
If checked, Custody Toolbox will show a reminder 7 days before the anniversaries of people in your address book. Just like normal reminders, anniversary reminders can be "snoozed" or "dismissed."

Add new event when empty date is double-clicked
When you double-click on a date in Custody Toolbox's calendar, The events dialog pops up. From there, you can add events, edit events, delete events, plus a few other things. Most of the time when people click on empty dates, they're meaning to add an event. Checking this box makes it so Custody Toolbox goes ahead and brings up the "Add Event" dialog, just as if you'd first double-clicked on the date, then clicked on "Add Event."

Format phone numbers (U.S. Style)
When checked, phone numbers in the Address Book are automatically formatted to the most common U.S. style [ex. (888) 888-8888.] When left unchecked, Custody Toolbox leaves the formatting to you for each individual phone number.

Show Custody Toolbox Tips at Startup
If checked, Custody Toolbox will present a dialog with useful tips every time you run it.

Show tool tips
If checked, Custody Toolbox displays tool tips when you hold your mouse pointer over a button for more than a second. Tool tips provide a quick description of buttons as you navigate Custody Toolbox's user interface. Note: The same information is displayed in status bar in the lower right hand corner of the Custody Toolbox screen when you hover over buttons. Unchecking this box will turn the tool tips off, but will not keep the information from being displayed in the status bar.

Automatically start Custody Toolbox when Windows starts
This can be handy if you make extensive use of Custody Toolbox's reminders. By checking this box, you'll never forget to run Custody Toolbox and miss any important reminders you've set.

Confirm Exit
If checked, Custody Toolbox will ask you if you're sure each time you exit the application.

Save
Applies all of the changes that you've made and exits back to the main screen.

Cancel
Exits back to the main screen, discarding any changes that you've made.

Caregiver Setup
Just another way to get into the Caregiver Setup screen. From the Caregiver Setup screen, you define the caregivers for your child or children and assign each of the caregivers a color. The color shows up on the calendar when you set caregivers for each day, giving you scheduling information with a quick glance.

Backing Up And Restoring Your Data

"Save early. Save Often."

Backing up your data is important in any application that stores important information. Custody Toolbox is no exception. Five O'clock Software recommends that you back up your data on a regular basis - not only to your hard drive, but also to a second hard drive, a USB storage device, or a floppy disk. That way, if your hard drive crashes, you won't lose all of your critical custody related information.

To backup your data, select "Backup Data" from the File menu, choose a filename (or just use the suggested one,) choose a place to save it, and click on "Save."

To restore a previously saved backup, select "Restore Data" from the File menu, browse to the backup you made, and click on "Open."

Note: When you restore data, all of your current data will be replaced with the data in the backup file you select, so be sure that's what you want to do before proceeding.

Custody Toolbox End User License Agreement (EULA)

CUSTODY TOOLBOX 1.1 - PRODUCT LICENSE INFORMATION

NOTICE TO USERS: CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING LEGAL AGREEMENT. USE OF THE SOFTWARE PROVIDED WITH THIS AGREEMENT (THE "SOFTWARE") CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT INSTALL AND/OR USE THIS SOFTWARE. USER'S USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS CONDITIONED UPON COMPLIANCE BY USER WITH THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT.

1. LICENSE GRANT. Five O'clock Software grants you a license to use a copy of the version of this SOFTWARE on any two systems for each license that you purchase. "You" means the company, entity or individual whose funds are used to pay the license fee. "Use" means storing, loading, installing, executing or displaying the SOFTWARE. You may not modify the SOFTWARE or disable any licensing or control features of the SOFTWARE except as an intended part of the SOFTWARE's programming features. When you first obtain a copy of the SOFTWARE, you are granted an evaluation period of not more than 15 days, after which time you must pay for the SOFTWARE according to the terms and prices discussed in the SOFTWARE's documentation, or you must remove the SOFTWARE from your system. This license is not transferable to any other system or to another organization or individual.

2. OWNERSHIP. The SOFTWARE is owned and copyrighted by Five O'clock Software. Your license confers no title or ownership in the SOFTWARE and should not be construed as a sale of any right in the SOFTWARE.

3. COPYRIGHT. The SOFTWARE is protected by United States copyright law and international treaty provisions. You acknowledge that no title to the intellectual property in the SOFTWARE is transferred to you. You further acknowledge that title and full ownership rights to the SOFTWARE will remain the exclusive property of Five O'clock Software and you will not acquire any rights to the SOFTWARE except as expressly set forth in this license. You agree that any copies of the SOFTWARE will contain the same proprietary notices that appear on and in the SOFTWARE.

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9. ENTIRE AGREEMENT. This is the entire agreement between you and Five O'clock Software which supersedes any prior agreement or understanding, whether written or oral, relating to the subject matter of this license.