Custody calls come with a clock attached. A parent is scared about a pickup this weekend, a move across state lines, or a support payment that stopped two months ago. They want answers, and they want them now.
Your intake person can't give answers. What they can do is gather the facts so the attorney can give real ones fast. This checklist is built for exactly that. Print it, paste it into your intake form, or use it to check what your current process is missing.
Before the first question
Two things come before the checklist.
Check that it's safe to talk. Custody fights and domestic violence overlap more than people think.
"Before we start, are you in a place where it's okay to talk for a few minutes?"
If the answer is no, or anything sounds off, follow your safe intake protocol for domestic violence callers.
Set expectations.
"I'm going to ask some questions so the attorney is ready for you. I can't give legal advice, but I'll make sure everything you're worried about gets to them."
Checklist 1: Caller and contact basics
- [ ] Full name
- [ ] Best phone number
- [ ] Okay to call? Okay to text? Okay to leave a voicemail?
- [ ] Email, and whether anyone else can read it
- [ ] City, county and state
- [ ] Relationship to the children (parent, grandparent, other)
- [ ] How they heard about the firm
Checklist 2: The children
- [ ] How many children, and their ages
- [ ] Where each child lives right now, and with whom
- [ ] How long they've lived there
- [ ] Any other states or countries the children have lived in recently
- [ ] Any special needs, health issues or school concerns the attorney should know about
Why ask where the kids have lived? Which court can hear a custody case often depends on it. Your intake person doesn't need to know the rules. They just need to capture the facts so the attorney can sort it out.
Checklist 3: The other parent
- [ ] Full name (for your firm's conflict check)
- [ ] Where they live (city and state)
- [ ] Were the parents married, divorced or never married?
- [ ] Has paternity been established, if the parents weren't married? (Caller may not know. That's fine.)
- [ ] Does the other parent have a lawyer?
Checklist 4: Orders and court history
- [ ] Is there a current custody or parenting time order?
- [ ] Is there a current child support order?
- [ ] Which county and state issued them?
- [ ] Case number, if the caller has it handy
- [ ] Has anyone filed anything new?
- [ ] Has the caller been served with papers?
- [ ] Any upcoming court dates or mediation?
- [ ] Any protective or restraining orders involving either parent?
Script line for the caller who doesn't know:
"That's okay. If you can find any papers you've received, bring them to the consult or snap a photo. The attorney can work from those."
Checklist 5: What's happening now
This is the section that tells you whether the lead is urgent.
- [ ] Current schedule: who has the kids when?
- [ ] Is the current arrangement being followed?
- [ ] Is either parent planning to move? Where and when?
- [ ] Is a parent withholding the children?
- [ ] Any concerns about the children's safety?
- [ ] What prompted the call today?
Flag the lead as urgent if there's a hearing soon, a planned move, children being withheld, or a safety concern. Your escalation rules should say who gets told and how fast.
Checklist 6: Child support
- [ ] Is support being paid now? By whom?
- [ ] Is it under a court order or an informal agreement?
- [ ] Have payments stopped or changed?
- [ ] Has either parent's income or job changed a lot recently?
- [ ] Is the caller looking to set up, change or enforce support?
Don't ask for exact incomes on the first call unless your attorneys want them. A rough picture is enough. And never estimate what support "should be." Guidelines vary by state, and the attorney needs the full picture before saying anything about numbers.
"I can't tell you what the amount would be, but the attorney can walk you through how it works in your state at the consult."
Checklist 7: Goals
- [ ] What would the caller like the schedule to look like?
- [ ] Is the caller hoping to agree with the other parent, or expecting a fight?
- [ ] Anything else the caller is worried about?
"If everything went the way you hoped, what would things look like for your kids six months from now?"
That question calms people down. It moves them from what went wrong to what they want, and it gives the attorney a head start.
Checklist 8: What to bring
Close every custody intake by telling the caller what to bring. Adjust with your attorneys.
- [ ] Any current custody, parenting time or support orders
- [ ] Any papers they've been served with
- [ ] A rough calendar of who has had the children recently
- [ ] Recent pay stubs or a tax return, if support is at issue
- [ ] A written list of their questions
Script lines for the hard moments
Custody callers get emotional, and that's normal. A few lines to keep handy:
When they're crying: "Take your time. I'm not going anywhere."
When they're angry at the other parent: "I hear you. Let's make sure the attorney gets every detail. What happened next?"
When they ask "Can I keep the kids from going this weekend?": "I can't advise you on that, and it's important to get right. I'm marking this urgent so the attorney sees it first."
When they want to know their odds: "I wish I could tell you. The attorney will give you an honest read once they know the details."
For more on these calls, read how to handle emotional callers at a family law firm.
How to use this checklist well
A checklist only helps if it's used the same way every time. A few rules:
- Ask in order, but listen first. Let the caller tell their story, then fill gaps from the list.
- Write down what they said, not what you think it means. "Says other parent hasn't returned kids since Sunday" beats "custody interference."
- Mark unknowns as unknown. A blank field and a "caller doesn't know" field mean different things to an attorney.
- Book before you hang up. The whole point is a consult on the calendar.
If you want a broader starting point that covers every practice area, our law firm intake checklist template pairs well with this one.
Where IntakeGenius fits
Our AI voice agent can run this checklist on every custody call, including the ones at 9 p.m. on a Sunday when a parent realizes the kids aren't coming back. It asks your questions in your order, books the consult, and logs the answers and contact preferences in IntakeCRM so your attorney has them before the meeting. We set it up with your team, including which situations count as urgent. When one needs a person, the agent routes the call to someone at your firm under those rules.
If you'd like to see how it would handle your custody calls, book a quick demo. Fifteen minutes, no slides.