An operating system for representing yourself in the Family Court of Australia.

Tools change. The principles below are what determine whether the ecosystem holds together once you're under pressure.

1.1 Single source of truth

Maintain one Master Working Document (MWD), in one place, with a stable identifier (e.g. a Google Doc you reference by document ID). Everything important about your matter — parties, orders to date, key issues, timeline, evidentiary themes, professional contacts, hearing dates — lives there. Every new working session begins by re-anchoring to that brief.

This sounds obvious. The reason it matters: SRL work fragments rapidly across emails, draft documents, screenshots, and chat sessions. Without a master brief, you'll forget what you've already established, contradict yourself in correspondence, and re-litigate decisions you already made.

1.2 Compartmentalisation

Do not run drafting, strategy, evidence review, and emotional processing in the same session. They contaminate each other. Use separate working sessions (and, if you're using an AI assistant, separate chats) for:

• Drafting — affidavits, submissions, correspondence
• Strategy — what to do, when, and why
• Evidence review — combing through messages, emails, documents
• Procedure — rules, forms, deadlines, service
• Wellbeing — your own state, sleep, food, regulation

Each session anchors to the MWD. Outputs go back into the brief or into the document store. This protects you from rabbit-holing and from one bad afternoon corrupting the rest of your case prep.

1.3 Sustainable pace

A contested final hearing is often 12–24 months away from filing. You cannot sprint that distance. Build a rhythm you can sustain: fixed blocks of case work, hard stops, weekly review, monthly stocktake. If you are neurodivergent, build accommodations in deliberately — externalised checklists, calendar reminders, single-task focus blocks, decompression after court-adjacent calls.

1.4 Adversarial assumption

Assume the other side is recording, screenshotting, and archiving. Assume nothing you say in writing to or about the other party is private. Assume every communication may end up in evidence — yours or theirs. Communicate in writing wherever possible, in measured tone, ideally through a single agreed platform (OurFamilyWizard, AppClose, or equivalent).

2.1 Cloud workspace

Pick one ecosystem and live in it. Google Workspace is the worked example here (Drive, Docs, Gmail, Calendar, Sheets, Apps Script) because the tooling is mature and AI integrations are strong. Microsoft 365 is equivalent and works fine.

Whatever you pick:

• Personal account, not work account. Work accounts get revoked.
• Two-factor authentication on, preferably hardware key or authenticator app, not SMS.
• A dedicated email address for legal matters (not your everyday inbox).
• Paid plan with enough storage — court matters generate gigabytes of evidence.

2.2 Folder structure

The full folder map — including each folder's purpose and rules — lives in Chapter II. The short version: ten numbered folders with a stable naming convention.

2.3 Naming conventions

Pick one and never deviate:

YYYY-MM-DD_DocType_ShortDescription_vN.ext

Examples:

• 2026-04-05_Calderbank_v10_FINAL.docx
• 2026-03-26_Decision_CSAgency_Reason3.pdf
• 2026-04-12_Affidavit_Father_Compliance_v3.docx

ISO dates sort correctly. Version numbers prevent confusion. "FINAL" stops you opening the wrong file at 11pm.

2.4 Master Working Document

The MWD is the only file you'll open every session. The full structure — header, parties, children, property pool, procedural history, issues, evidentiary themes, authorities, tasks, deadlines, risk register, communication log, costs, session log — is walked through in Chapter III.

Update at the end of every working session. If the brief is more than two weeks out of date, your ecosystem has decayed.

2.5 AI assistant configuration

If you use an AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, etc.), set it up deliberately. Full configuration including the hard rules and a copy-paste project instructions block lives in Chapter VI. The short version:

• Connect your cloud workspace via official connectors so the assistant can read your Drive, Gmail, Calendar.
• Brief it once, well. Settled description of your matter, role, communication preferences, formatting conventions.
• Anchor every session by having it fetch the MWD at the start.
• Compartmentalise chats as in §1.2.
• Never let the assistant send anything on your behalf. Drafts only. You review, you send.
• Be aware of integration limits. Most AI Drive integrations read Google Docs reliably but struggle with HTML, binary files, and spreadsheets. Convert source material to Docs format when you need the assistant to read it.

2.6 File conversion pipelines

You will accumulate evidence in inconvenient formats: .msg Outlook emails, HTML exports from messaging platforms, PDF discovery from the other side. Build small Apps Script (or equivalent) utilities to bulk-convert these to Google Docs so they are:

• Searchable across your whole drive
• Readable by your AI assistant
• Indexed by date
• Quotable in affidavits without retyping

Useful converters to have:

• .msg → Google Doc (preserves headers, body, attachments listed)
• PDF → Google Doc (with OCR for scanned documents)
• HTML message export → Google Doc per conversation thread
• JSON exports → flat text

Build these once, save the scripts in your 99_Admin/ folder, reuse forever.

3.1 Affidavit formatting

Establish a single standard and apply it to every affidavit you ever file. The full Affidavit chapter covers format conventions in detail. Highlights:

• Font: Arial 12pt body, 11pt for footnotes
• Paragraph numbering: Sequential through the document, bold numbers
• Part headings: Bold caps, e.g. PART A — BACKGROUND
• Sub-paragraphs: Indented (720 twips, i.e. half an inch), labelled (a), (b), (c)
• Annexures: Labelled "Annexure A", "Annexure B"; referenced in body as "a copy of which is annexed and marked 'Annexure A'"
• Jurat: Standard wording per FCFCOA rules; signed and witnessed correctly (electronic signing rules differ by state)

Save a clean template. Never rebuild this from scratch.

3.2 The five drafting workflows

Different documents need different processes. Don't conflate them.

3.3 Subpoena drafting

The mechanics matter and they are routinely got wrong.

• APP 12 / Information Privacy Act request letters are not subpoenas. They are voluntary disclosure requests under privacy law. Useful for getting your own records from agencies. No service obligations.
• Subpoenas to produce / give evidence / both are court process. They must be issued by the court, served on the recipient, and served on every other party (including the ICL) within the rule-specified timeframe. Failing to serve other parties is a common SRL error and gets the subpoena set aside.
• Schedule of documents must be specific. "All documents relating to X" is too broad and will be objected to as oppressive. Identify document types, date ranges, custodians, and accounts.
• Common subpoena targets in family matters: telecommunications providers (CDR, cell site data, account records), police (QPRIME / event records), schools, treating clinicians, supervised contact centres, child protection departments, social media platforms, banks.
• Conduct money must be tendered with the subpoena for non-corporate recipients.

3.4 Chronologies

Build at least one master chronology. Consider building several:

• Procedural — every filed document, every order, every appearance
• Evidentiary themes — one per major issue (e.g. "alleged coaching", "communication breakdown", "child's school refusal")
• Specific actors — e.g. every documented interaction with the ICL, every interaction between the children and a specific professional

These get tendered or used to brief witnesses. Build them in a spreadsheet (date / actor / event / source / annexure reference) so they sort and filter cleanly.

3.5 Case notes / authorities

When you find an authority you'll rely on, write a short structured note: citation, court, judge, parties, facts in 3 sentences, principles relevant to your matter, paragraph references. Save in 05_Authorities_and_Research/. By the time you reach final hearing you should have 15–30 of these and know each one cold.

Family law rarely runs on one track. Plan for parallel matters and the interactions between them.

Track each on its own one-page summary in the MWD. Note any cross-jurisdictional risks (e.g. statements made in one matter being used in another, Harman undertaking considerations, costs orders compounding).

5.1 Acquire early

Don't wait until you need evidence to start gathering it. By the time you need it, sources may be gone (deleted accounts, expired retention, archived backups).

Priority captures:

• Your own messaging platform data exports (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal, email accounts) — every platform has a data download tool; use them
• Phone call logs from your carrier (download monthly statements while available)
• Bank statements — full account history, not just summaries
• School records — formal request to the school; they're obliged to hold them
• Medical records — written authority to release
• Police records — apply through state-specific RTI or freedom-of-information processes

5.2 Don't destroy

Once proceedings are foreseeable, destroying or altering evidence is a serious problem. Preserve devices, accounts, and records even if they're embarrassing to you. The other side's discovery requests will reach them anyway.

5.3 Email retrieval

Searching email reliably across years requires structure. Useful filters:

• Combine sender/recipient domain (not just address) with date range
• Search by attachment type (e.g. has:attachment filename:pdf)
• Use labels for matter-specific tagging
• Export important threads to Google Docs for archival and AI assistant access

5.4 Messaging exports

Modern messaging exports (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) ship as nested folder structures with HTML conversations and media. They are not easy to search without preprocessing. Either:

• Convert HTML conversations to Docs (per §2.6) for native search, or
• Index them with a tool like grep -r if you're command-line comfortable, or
• Load them into an AI assistant that can read HTML (most can't read HTML directly from Drive — upload to chat or convert first)

You are self-represented, not isolated. Build a network of professionals around you.

6.1 Standby solicitor

Even if you're SRL, retain a relationship with a family lawyer who knows your matter at a high level. You may need them for spot reviews of significant filings, discrete advice on tactical questions, advocate-on-the-day if you become unable to appear, and witnessing affidavits. Pay for an initial consult to establish the file. Use them sparingly thereafter.

6.2 Therapist / psychologist (yours)

Find one with forensic experience if available. Not because they will give evidence (they often won't), but because they understand how court processes affect clients and won't accidentally write notes that damage your matter. Prioritise privacy of records, a clear understanding that the therapeutic relationship is for you (not the litigation), and awareness that their notes may be subpoenaed.

A diagnostic letter from a treating clinician (e.g. confirming ADHD, ASD, AuDHD, anxiety) can be useful court material when communication or executive function is in issue.

6.3 Child's clinician

If your children see their own therapist, keep that relationship strictly separate from the litigation. The clinician is for the child's wellbeing, not for evidence-gathering. Treating clinicians for children are usually reluctant to engage with court processes and rightly so. Don't push.

6.4 Financial / accounting

Family law generates financial complexity: child support, property division, legal cost financing. Consider:

• An accountant familiar with family-law-relevant financial disclosure
• A finance broker (commercial mortgage broker if you have business or equity-secured options)
• A financial counsellor (free, through National Debt Helpline 1800 007 007) if you're under stress

6.5 Family / friends / community

Identify two or three people who you can decompress with after court-adjacent events, who will check in on you weekly, and who can mind children or drive you somewhere if a hearing day implodes. Do not litigate at them. They are support, not strategy.

A workable rhythm leading into a final hearing. The interactive timeline lives in Chapter VII.

The interactive, filterable, locally-persisted version of this checklist is in Chapter VII. The static version, for reference:

Week 1

• Create dedicated email address for legal matters
• Set up cloud workspace with 2FA
• Build folder structure (§2.2)
• Create MWD skeleton (§2.4)
• Get initial advice from a family lawyer

Month 1

• Export all relevant messaging data (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.)
• Download 24 months of phone records from carrier
• Download 24 months of bank statements
• Request school and medical records
• Identify standby solicitor
• Identify therapist / psychologist
• Establish communication channel with other party (e.g. OurFamilyWizard) if appropriate

Month 2–3

• File initiating documents (or respond to existing)
• Complete financial disclosure (Form 13 / 13A)
• Build affidavit template
• Build subpoena templates
• Build chronology spreadsheet
• Build authorities folder

Ongoing — weekly

• Update MWD
• File new evidence into folder structure with correct naming
• Review upcoming deadlines (Calendar)
• Decompress

Ongoing — monthly

• Stocktake: what's drafted, what's missing, what's at risk
• Review folder structure integrity
• Check storage limits and backup
• Check in with therapist
• Check in with standby solicitor

A short list of preventable failures.

• !
  No backup. One corrupted file or revoked account and months of work is gone. Two-location backup minimum.
• !
  Service errors. Filing without proper service, or with the wrong parties served, gets material struck out or subpoenas set aside.
• !
  Tone in correspondence. Hot emails get tendered. Every email is potential evidence. Write each one as if a judicial officer will read it.
• !
  Affidavit hearsay. Stating what other people told you, without identifying them, is inadmissible. Source every fact.
• !
  Annexure mismatches. "Annexure D" referred to in paragraph 27 but actually labelled "Annexure E" in the bundle. Check twice.
• !
  Calendar drift. A missed deadline is often unrecoverable. Use one calendar, set 14-day and 48-hour reminders, never rely on memory.
• !
  Burnout. SRL litigants who burn out late in the case lose hearings they should have won. Sustainability is strategy.

That is what infrastructure buys you: not victory, but capacity.

The shape below is what you unzip into your synced cloud workspace. Numeric prefixes hold sort order regardless of filesystem locale. Each folder has a README explaining what goes inside and what doesn't.

File-naming convention

Apply consistently everywhere:

YYYY-MM-DD_[In/Out]_DocType_ShortDescription_vN.ext

2026-04-05_Out_OtherSideSolicitor_CalderbankOffer.pdf
2026-04-12_Affidavit_Applicant_v3.docx
2026-05-14_Affidavit_Applicant_FILED.docx

ISO dates sort correctly. The In/Out prefix on correspondence sorts inbound and outbound apart at a glance. Use _FINAL or _FILED only when something has actually been filed or sent — that suffix is your "do not edit further" sign.

Common Australian family law starting authorities

For 05_Authorities_and_Research/. Build your own collection as the matter develops.

An affidavit is your sworn evidence in writing. It must:

• Be in your own words, from your own knowledge
• Distinguish clearly between what you saw/heard/did and what others told you
• Annex documents being referred to, properly labelled
• Be sworn or affirmed before an authorised witness (JP, lawyer, etc.)
• Comply with the FCFCOA Rules and any directions order

If a paragraph would be inadmissible if you tried to say it from the witness box, it shouldn't be in your affidavit either.

Pick one standard and never deviate.

Save a clean template. Use the same template for every affidavit you ever file.

COVER PAGE
  Court, registry, file number
  Parties (full names, roles)
  Document title: "Affidavit of [YOUR FULL NAME]"
  Filed by: [your details]

PART A — INTRODUCTION
  1. I am the [Applicant / Respondent] in this matter.
  2. I make this affidavit from my own knowledge except where indicated.
     Where I refer to matters told to me by another person, I identify
     them and believe what they told me to be true.
  3. [Any preliminary matters — purpose of affidavit, response to
     specific order, etc.]

PART B — BACKGROUND
  [Chronological narrative of relevant background]

PART C — [TOPIC 1]
  [Address each issue in its own part]

PART D — [TOPIC 2]
  ...

PART [LAST] — CONCLUSION  (optional)

JURAT
  Sworn / affirmed at [LOCATION]
  on [DATE]
  before me: [WITNESS NAME, QUALIFICATION]
  [WITNESS SIGNATURE]
  [DEPONENT SIGNATURE]

ANNEXURES
  [Each annexure on its own page, with cover page]

1. Outline first. List the parts. List the paragraphs under each part. Don't write prose until the outline is settled.
2. Source every fact. Beside each draft paragraph, note where the supporting evidence lives. If you can't source it, you probably can't say it.
3. Draft part by part. Don't try to write the whole affidavit in one sitting. One part per session.
4. Cross-check annexures. Every annexure referred to in the text must exist, be labelled correctly, and be in the bundle in the right order.
5. External review. Have at least one trusted person (ideally your standby solicitor) read it. They'll catch what you can't see.
6. Cooling-off period. Leave it 48 hours between final draft and swearing. You will spot things you missed.
7. Print-check. Print the final and read on paper. Errors invisible on screen jump out.
8. Swear/affirm. Before an authorised witness. Take ID. Take the annexures too — most witnesses will initial them.
9. File and serve. Per the rules. Get receipts.

Children's statements are a special category. Be careful: courts are alive to coaching and contamination concerns. If you must include something a child said, record verbatim, with date, time, location, and who else was present.

• Don't denigrate. Even when describing genuinely difficult behaviour, stay factual. Adjectives like "manipulative", "abusive", "narcissistic" without facts attached read as venting.
• Don't speculate about diagnosis. Don't call the other parent narcissistic, borderline, or anything else clinical. Even treating practitioners are cautious about this. You're not qualified.
• Don't put words in your child's mouth. Avoid "the child told me she hates her mother". Record what was actually said, verbatim, in context.
• Don't include settlement offers. Privileged communications (Calderbank, without prejudice) are not for affidavits. They go in their own envelope at the end of trial if costs are argued.
• Don't paraphrase orders. When referring to a court order, quote it exactly, with paragraph reference.

Concise wins. A 30-page affidavit that says what's needed beats a 90-page affidavit that buries it. The court reads many affidavits. Help it find your point.

If you're past 60 pages, ask whether the extra pages are helping or burying.

Final checklist. If any box isn't ticked, you're not ready to swear.

• Every fact is from your own knowledge OR has identified source
• Every annexure reference matches an actual annexure
• Annexures are in the order they're referenced in the text
• Annexures are labelled correctly (A, B, C…)
• No paragraphs of argument disguised as fact
• No characterisations without supporting facts
• No privileged communications included
• Page numbers are correct
• Header has correct file number and parties
• Jurat is complete except for date/witness signature (filled at swearing)
• You've read it cold, on paper
• A trusted reviewer has read it
• You've left it 48 hours since the final draft

An annexure is a document referred to in your affidavit and attached to it. The annexure is part of the affidavit; it's not a separate document. When you swear or affirm the affidavit, you are also swearing or affirming that the annexures are what you say they are.

Before each annexure, insert a single page that looks like this:

The witness signs each cover page when they witness the affidavit.

Annexures are labelled in the order they are first referred to in the text:

• First reference in text → Annexure A
• Second → Annexure B
• Third → Annexure C, and so on

If you go past Z, continue with AA, AB, AC (not A1, A2, A3 — that can confuse with sub-annexures).

Use this exact wording the first time you refer to each annexure:

"[…description of the document…], a copy of which is annexed and marked 'Annexure A'."

On subsequent references to the same document:

"as set out in Annexure A"

Every page — affidavit body, cover pages, annexure content — gets a page number. Two options; pick one and apply it consistently:

• Option A (short affidavits): Continuous numbering, bottom centre, "Page N of M".
• Option B (long/multi-volume affidavits): Affidavit body uses one numbering; annexures restart at 1 within each annexure, with each annexure's page count noted on its cover page.

If you annex a document, you annex it as it is. You don't:

• Highlight it
• Add notes in the margins
• Crop out parts you don't want shown
• Re-type it (unless re-typing is necessary because the original is illegible — and then note that)

If you want to highlight a specific passage, do it in the body of your affidavit by quoting the passage with paragraph reference.

Inside 07_Affidavits_Drafts/, for each affidavit you draft:

07_Affidavits_Drafts/
└── 2026-05-14_Affidavit_Applicant_v3/
    ├── 2026-05-14_Affidavit_Applicant_v3.docx
    ├── Annexures/
    │   ├── A_Email_2026-03-12.pdf
    │   ├── B_EmailChain_2026-03-15to20.pdf
    │   ├── C_Letter_OtherSide_2026-04-01.pdf
    │   ├── D_TextMessages_2026-02-01to28.pdf
    │   └── ...
    └── Annexures_Bundle.pdf      ← merged, paginated, cover-paged

The merged Annexures_Bundle.pdf is what you swear and serve.

1. Convert the affidavit body to PDF
2. For each annexure: create the cover page (use a template), convert annexure content to PDF, merge cover page + content into a single PDF per annexure
3. Merge in order: affidavit body → Annexure A → Annexure B → …
4. Paginate the merged PDF
5. Verify: every reference in the text matches a present annexure; nothing missing; nothing extra
6. Print for swearing (most witnesses will want paper)

1. Save to 01_Orders_and_Filings/Filed_by_Other/
2. Open the Correspondence & Rebuttal Tracker and log every contested factual assertion with its paragraph reference
3. Annexures attached to their affidavit are part of their evidence, not yours — don't re-annex them to your reply unless you have a reason
4. Plan your reply: which paragraphs do you contest, which do you accept, which do you ignore (because contesting trivial points hurts more than it helps)?

• ×
  Labelling annexures in alphabetical order of topic rather than order of first mention
• ×
  Two documents marked 'Annexure A' (happens when drafts get merged)
• ×
  Annexure cover pages without the witness's signature
• ×
  Annexures referenced in the affidavit but missing from the bundle
• ×
  Annexures in the bundle but never referenced in the affidavit (suggests dump)
• ×
  Editing the annexure content
• ×
  Including documents that aren't yours to disclose (e.g. third-party private records you weren't authorised to obtain)

The eight non-negotiables that govern how the assistant behaves inside the SRL ecosystem.

Five repeating session shapes. The assistant should recognise these and follow them.

1. Read 00_MasterBrief/Master_Working_Document.md
2. Confirm focus for this session
3. Read any directly relevant sub-documents
4. Begin work

1. Confirm which part is being drafted
2. Read Guides/Affidavit_Drafting_Guide.md if not already in context
3. Outline the part before writing prose
4. For each fact, identify source (in 03_Evidence/ or annexures)
5. Draft to current working file in 07_Affidavits_Drafts/
6. Flag hearsay, characterisation, and unsourced facts
7. Log to Session log in the MWD at end

1. Save the document to the appropriate 02_Correspondence/ subfolder
2. Open Guides/Correspondence_Rebuttal_Tracker.xlsx
3. Add a row: date, from, channel, summary, key claims, response required, deadline
4. If claims need rebuttal in the next affidavit, link to Evidentiary theme in MWD §6

1. Create 05_Authorities_and_Research/[citation_shortform].md from the authority note template
2. Add to MWD §7 (Authorities table)
3. Note which evidentiary theme it supports

1. Identify recipient and document categories
2. Draft schedule (specific document types, date ranges, custodians)
3. Save draft to 04_Subpoenas/Drafts/
4. Remind user: file with court → serve on recipient → serve on every other party (including ICL)
5. Once issued, move to 04_Subpoenas/Issued/
6. Diarise produced-by date

Things the assistant declines and points you to legal advice for instead. It can still help with the infrastructure layer of these (e.g. "I can't tell you whether to accept the offer, but I can help you build a costs-comparison table so you and your lawyer have the numbers in one place").

• Drafting submissions for argument at a hearing (outline help is fine; written submissions for argument should be reviewed by a lawyer)
• Cross-examination preparation (process help fine; tactical advice not)
• Settlement negotiation advice
• Predicting what a judge will do
• Calculating property pool entitlements
• Calculating child support
• Advising on whether to appeal

Paste the block below into a Claude Project's instructions field (or a custom GPT, or any persistent-instruction surface). Upload the contents of Guides/ as project knowledge so the assistant has them as reference.

You are assisting a self-represented litigant (SRL) in a Family Court matter in Australia. The court is the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA).

You are NOT a lawyer. You do NOT give legal advice. You help with infrastructure: folder management, document drafting and formatting, evidence organisation, chronologies, authority notes, correspondence tracking, and procedural workflow. When the user asks for substantive legal advice — what to argue, predicted outcomes, interpretation of orders, settlement strategy — you say so plainly and suggest they get legal advice for that aspect, then offer to help with the infrastructure layer of whatever they're working on.

HARD RULES

1. Never send, file, or serve anything on the user's behalf. Drafts only. The user reviews and dispatches.
2. Anchor every session to the Master Working Document (MWD). It lives at 00_MasterBrief/Master_Working_Document.md. Read it before substantive work.
3. Compartmentalise. One session = one focus (drafting, strategy, evidence review, procedure, research, or wellbeing). Don't blend.
4. Source every fact. In drafting, every assertion must be tied to a source. Unsourced material gets marked [SOURCE NEEDED].
5. No characterisation of other parties. Factual, professional, measured. Every word as if a judicial officer will read it.
6. Use the file conventions. Naming: YYYY-MM-DD_DocType_ShortDescription_vN.ext. Folder placement per the README. Affidavit format per the Affidavit Drafting Guide.

BEHAVIOUR

- Direct, calm, professional tone.
- Concise — the user is usually under time pressure.
- Brief acknowledgement of expertise where relevant; this is rarely their first session.
- If you detect the user is in a degraded state (very long session, signs of distress, late at night), gently flag it once and offer a stopping point. Don't psychoanalyse.
- If the user is neurodivergent (ADHD, ASD, AuDHD, anxiety): preserve clear structure, avoid wall-of-text responses, use scannable formatting, don't overload with options.

TOOLS

If you have Drive / Gmail / Calendar integration:
- Read freely. Search for documents, fetch emails, check calendar.
- Draft into drafts folders / Gmail drafts only. Never send.
- Don't auto-modify documents in 01_Orders_and_Filings/ (those are filed material — immutable).

OUT OF SCOPE

You do not:
- Predict what the court will do
- Interpret orders authoritatively
- Calculate property pool entitlements or child support
- Advise on appeals
- Provide tactical advice for cross-examination
- Tell the user whether to accept a settlement offer

For all of the above: name it, suggest legal advice, offer to help with the infrastructure layer instead.

REFERENCE FILES

The project files (uploaded as part of this project) contain:
- Affidavit_Drafting_Guide.md — format and process for affidavits
- Annexure_Format_Guide.md — annexure labelling and bundling
- SKILL.md — your operating instructions in more detail
- Master_Working_Document_TEMPLATE.md — what an MWD looks like
- README.md (root) — folder structure and conventions

Read these once at the start of a project and refer back as needed.

Once you've used the project for a few weeks, you'll learn what you want the assistant to do more of and less of. Append additions to the block above. Examples:

• "Always reference paragraph numbers when summarising orders or the other side's affidavits."
• "When I ask for a draft email, give me two versions: short and full."
• "Don't suggest I 'consult a lawyer' on every response. Once per session is fine if relevant."
• "Format outputs in markdown with headers, not as flowing prose."

The goal is an assistant that feels like a steady operational partner — not a chatbot that re-introduces itself every turn.

The rhythm into a contested final hearing. Hover or tap each phase for detail. The shape is roughly the same whether you're parenting, property, or both.

For an SRL starting today. Filter by phase. Your check marks persist locally — clearing your browser data resets them.

Not victory, but capacity.

Capacity to find any document in under 30 seconds. To draft a Calderbank offer or a subpoena in hours rather than days. To walk into a final hearing with everything in order. To sleep, because you know where everything is. The system doesn't win cases — it makes it possible for you to keep showing up, in good shape, for the months and months it takes to get to a final hearing.