Family Court Strategist

A free, open-source legal intelligence toolkit for parents navigating family court.

Built by Kyle Fischer — a father who spent 18 months in the system and realised the tools to fight properly didn't exist. So he built them and gave them away for free.

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Download Now (No Tech Skills Needed)

You do NOT need to be technical to use this. No terminal. No code. Just download, unzip, and open.

Easiest option: Open THE-PROMPT.md, copy the prompt, paste it into Claude, and it builds everything for you. Nothing to download.

Or download the files: Step 1: Click Releases (right side of this page) Step 2: Download these two files:

• family-court-vault-template.zip — your evidence vault (works on its own, no AI needed)
• family-court-strategist.plugin — the AI assistant (optional, needs the Claude desktop app)

Step 3: Unzip the vault, open it in Obsidian (free app), and start with HOME.md

Full instructions in GETTING-STARTED.md.

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What This Is

Family court is overwhelming. Documents pile up. Lawyers miss things. Patterns get buried. And the parent who should be fighting for their kid ends up drowning in paperwork with no system to make sense of it.

This toolkit changes that.

It gives you two things:

1. An Obsidian Evidence Vault — A structured system to organise every document, track every communication, and surface every contradiction in your case
2. A Claude AI Plugin — An AI assistant trained on family court methodology that can analyse your documents, find patterns, track your lawyer's performance, and help build your strategy

Whether you have a lawyer or you're self-representing, this system puts you in the driver's seat.

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Who This Is For

• Parents with lawyers who need to stay across their case, catch what's being missed, and hold their solicitor accountable
• Self-represented parents who need to build their case with the same rigour as a legal team
• Anyone who refuses to be a passenger in their own family court matter

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What's Inside

The Obsidian Vault (/obsidian-vault/)

A ready-to-go evidence system with:

Component	What It Does
13-Point Forensic Protocol	Analyses every document for facts, claims, contradictions, patterns, and opportunities
Evidence Matrix	Maps every allegation against all available evidence with strength ratings
Contradiction Engine	Cross-references documents to find where stories change and accounts conflict
Coincidence Map	Tracks suspicious timing alignments between events
8 Document Templates	Incidents, communications, affidavits, court orders, patterns, legal letters, strategy notes, person profiles
Dataview Dashboard	Live queries that surface patterns across your entire vault automatically
Attribution Standards	Legal-grade protocol for recording quotes accurately — because one misattribution can tank your credibility
Lawyer Accountability Tracker	Track every piece of advice, every cost, and every action your solicitor takes or doesn't take

The Claude Plugin (/plugin/)

Five AI skills that turn Claude into a family court strategist:

Skill	What It Does
Case Setup	Walks you through creating your vault from scratch
Analyse Document	Runs the full 13-point forensic analysis on any document you upload
Evidence Review	Cross-references your entire case for contradictions, patterns, and gaps
Lawyer Accountability	Evaluates solicitor performance, flags red flags, tracks costs
Case Strategy	Builds evidence-based strategy and hearing preparation checklists

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Quick Start

Option 0: Just Use The Prompt (Easiest — Nothing to Download)

Don't want to download anything? Open THE-PROMPT.md, copy the entire prompt, paste it into Claude in Cowork mode, and Claude will build the complete system for you from scratch and walk you through every piece of it. That's it.

Option 1: Obsidian Vault Only (No AI, No Tech Skills)

1. Download family-court-vault-template.zip from the Releases page
2. Unzip it on your computer and rename the folder to your case name
3. Download and install Obsidian (free)
4. Open Obsidian → "Open folder as vault" → select your folder
5. Go to Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search "Dataview" → Install → Enable
6. Open HOME.md — this is your starting point
7. Fill in CASE-DETAILS.md and start adding your documents

Option 2: Claude Plugin + Vault (Recommended — Still No Tech Skills)

1. Download family-court-strategist.plugin from the Releases page
2. Download the Claude desktop app if you don't have it
3. Open the .plugin file — Claude will ask you to install it, click yes
4. Start a new Cowork session and select your case folder
5. Say "set up my case" — Claude will build your entire vault and walk you through it
6. Upload any document and say "analyse this" — Claude runs the full forensic protocol

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The Methodology

Every document gets processed through a 13-point forensic protocol:

1. Facts — only what's verifiable
2. Claims — who says what, with paragraph references
3. Evidence — strength-rated (★★★ / ★★☆ / ★☆☆)
4. Inconsistencies — internal conflicts
5. Contradictions — cross-document conflicts
6. Discrepancies — subtle but significant gaps
7. Potentially false/misleading — unsupported claims
8. Patterns — recurring behaviours
9. Risk & Impact — effect on the child
10. Opportunities — weaknesses to use
11. Follow-up required — what's still needed
12. Event linking — connects to the timeline
13. Obsidian output — structured for queries

This isn't a checklist someone made up. It was developed through 18 months of real proceedings, real documents, and real mistakes. Every part of it exists because something went wrong without it.

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The Golden Rules

1. Every claim needs a source. If you can't link it to a document, it's not evidence.
2. Every quote needs attribution. Who said it, to whom, per whose account, paragraph reference.
3. Patterns beat incidents. Two is a coincidence. Three is a pattern. Five is undeniable.
4. Document everything in real time. The best evidence is contemporaneous.
5. Be honest about your weaknesses. Knowing where you're vulnerable is as important as knowing where you're strong.
6. The child comes first. Always. In every argument, every strategy, every decision.

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Screenshots

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Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to help improve this toolkit.

This is an open project. If you've been through family court and have insights that could help others, your contributions are welcome — whether that's improving the analysis framework, adding templates for your jurisdiction, or translating the methodology for different legal systems.

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Disclaimer

This is a case organisation and evidence analysis tool. It is not legal advice. Always seek independent legal advice for major decisions in your matter. The methodology is based on Australian family law (Family Law Act 1975) but the analytical framework applies to family courts in any jurisdiction.

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License

MIT — Free to use, modify, and distribute. Because no parent should have to pay to fight properly for their kid.

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The Story

My name is Kyle Fischer. I built this because I had no choice.

I was a father in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia with a solicitor who recommended surrender, a system that buried evidence of alienation, and a settlement I was pressured into signing in 48 hours.

After the dust settled, I started organising everything — not just for my own case, but because I realised the tools to fight properly didn't exist. The legal system expects you to trust your lawyer and hope for the best. This toolkit exists for the parents who refuse to do that.

The family court system is broken. Lawyers get paid whether you win or lose. Reports bury what matters. And parents — usually fathers — get told to "accept the process" while their relationship with their child is destroyed.

I'm not accepting it. And if you're reading this, neither should you.

If this helps one parent stay in their kid's life, it was worth building. If it helps expose the system for what it is, even better.

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Built by Kyle Fischer. For parents. Open source forever.