Use Mary for family law matters

Compare accounts of parenting arrangements, build a chronology or examine financial disclosure. The examples below use a hypothetical matter involving Alex and Sam. Adapt the dates and filenames to your processed documents.

Understand a parenting arrangement

Use Ask Mary to start with a straightforward question:

What did Alex and Sam agree about the school holidays?

Narrow the question if you need a particular period or source:

Compare their messages from 1 May to 30 June 2026. Separate proposals from agreed arrangements and keep any conditions attached to an agreement.

For a timeline, open Mary tools → Create chronologies and ask for the communications about that arrangement. Add the dates, participants and source columns you need. Create and edit a chronology covers the full procedure.

When checking an entry, preserve qualifications: “I can agree if collection is at 4 pm” records a condition, not unconditional agreement.

Compare conflicting accounts

Start with “How do their accounts of the 12 June discussion differ?” Identify the files if needed:

Compare Alex's and Sam's statements about 12 June 2026 with the messages and notes made at the time. Identify agreement, differences and points the documents do not resolve. Cite each account.

Check that the accounts concern the same conversation. A later statement can record an allegation without proving the alleged event happened.

Examine financial disclosure

Compare the accounts, currencies and statement periods received with those you need. Then follow Analyse bank statements to create a transaction table and check its sources.

For a particular transfer, you might ask Mary:

What do the documents say about the transfer on 18 May 2026?

Add the relevant source names to focus the comparison:

Compare that transfer in Statement-April-June.pdf with Transfer-correspondence.pdf. What explanation is recorded, and what remains unexplained?

An unexplained transfer is a point to investigate, not proof of concealment, ownership or entitlement. If you need a follow-up, ask “What further factual questions would help explain it?”, then check those questions against the records before using them with a client or witness.

Review and share the result

Use Review and verify entries to check chronology or financial entries and record your decisions. Keep missing documents and disputed claims clear. For financial summaries, distinguish partial-year from full-year periods and transfers from expenditure.

Follow Find and export your work to download the intended result and inspect the file before sharing it.