How to Use the Custody Binder

The Custody Binder keeps important child and household information in one searchable place. You can use it for contacts, insurance details, school information, medical information, and related files.

Add a Binder item

1. Open Custody Binder and tap Add to Binder.
2. Choose a built-in card type, a family custom card type, or Document to upload or scan a file.
3. Choose Private or Shared. New items are private by default.
4. Add a title and select a category.
5. Choose the children the item relates to. All is selected by default, or you can select one or more individual children.
6. Fill in the available details and add optional notes.
7. If Magic Tags are available with your plan, leave them on for automatic tag suggestions or turn them off for this item.
8. Tap Save.

Built-in card types include Contact, Insurance, School Details, Doctor Visit, Prescription, and Allergy. Their field names are already set up for you; you add or edit the values.

Choose what your coparent can see

• Private items are visible only to you.
• Shared items are visible to your connected coparent.
• Only the person who created an item can change it between Private and Shared.
• Your coparent can edit a shared item you created only when Allow my coparent to edit Binder items I create is enabled in Binder Settings.
• Shared items have an update history so both coparents can see when the item changed.

Tags, Magic Tags, and favorites are always personal to your account. They help you organize the Binder without changing what your coparent sees.

Find an item

Tap Search in the Binder to search titles, details, notes, and tags. You can also narrow the results by:

• Favorites
• Personal tags
• Category
• Child
• Private or Shared visibility

Tap the Favorites tag in Search to show your favorite items immediately.

Edit or manage an item

Open an item or use its menu to see the actions available to you. Depending on the item and your permissions, you can:

• Edit its title, category, children, details, or notes
• Add or open an attached file
• Add personal tags or mark it as a favorite
• Make it Shared or Private
• View update history
• Delete it

Custom card types

Connected families can create reusable card types in Binder Settings. A custom card type appears in the Add to Binder menu for both you and your coparent.

Custom card types are a Connect feature. Existing family card types remain visible in the menu, and BestInterest will show the plan prompt if your current access does not include using or managing them.

Older documents in the Binder

Some files added through an older version of BestInterest appear in the Binder as Read-only legacy document. The label means the file was brought forward from the previous document storage so it remains available. You can open the file and use Change category from its menu, but its other details cannot be edited and the item cannot be deleted from the Binder.

New Binder items require a category, and editable items let you update their category and child selection.