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Last updated 21 October 2026.
Family law drafting has two voices. The pleading voice: petitions, motions for temporary orders, financial disclosures, proposed orders. And the client voice: letters that explain to someone in the middle of a divorce what the other side offered and what happens next. Dictation suits both, because most of the hard part is deciding what to say, not typing it.
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Where dictation saves the most time
| Document | What you dictate | What you still do by hand |
|---|---|---|
| Parenting plan | Schedules, exchanges, holidays, decision making, relocation terms | Check dates and times against the calendar you agreed |
| Petition or motion | Facts, grounds, relief requested | Caption, court form fields, local rule formatting |
| Marital settlement agreement | Property division, support terms, QDRO language | Every account number and dollar figure |
| Client letter | The offer, your advice, next steps | A final read for tone |
| Hearing notes | What the judge said, deadlines set | Calendar entries |
Example: dictating a holiday schedule into a parenting plan
- Open the plan in Word at the Holidays section and press your hotkey.
- Say: "Thanksgiving colon in even numbered years comma the children shall be with Mother from 6 PM Wednesday until 6 PM Sunday period In odd numbered years comma they shall be with Father for the same period period new paragraph Winter break colon the children shall spend the first half of winter break with Father in 2026 and the second half with Mother comma alternating each year after period"
- Press the hotkey again. The text is pasted at the cursor as two paragraphs: "Thanksgiving: in even numbered years, the children shall be with Mother from 6 pm Wednesday until 6 pm Sunday. In odd numbered years, they shall be with Father for the same period." and "Winter break: the children shall spend the first half of winter break with Father in 2026 and the second half with Mother, alternating each year after."
- Read the 2 paragraphs against the schedule both parents signed off on. A wrong year in a holiday clause is the kind of mistake that ends up in front of the judge.
Note that "for the same period period" works: the app keeps "period" as a word when it is part of a phrase and treats the second one as the full stop. Still read the result, because the rule depends on what comes next.
Family law terms
The Legal Edition dictionary has 12,000+ legal terms with the near misses it corrects. From family practice: QDRO (corrects "cue-dro" and "quadro"), guardian ad litem ("guardian ad lightem"), pendente lite ("pendente lighty"), ex parte ("ex partay"), in camera ("in kamera"), alimony ("alimoney"), imputed income ("inputed income"), plus marital settlement agreement, equitable distribution, transmutation, parenting time, legal custody, best interests of the child, temporary restraining order and status quo ante.
Children's names, the other party, opposing counsel and your judges are worth adding to your Personal Dictionary on day one. Spelling a child's name wrong in a parenting plan is not a typo the client forgets.
Shortcuts for the parts you repeat
Most firms reuse the same paragraphs: a standard right of first refusal clause, a communication clause, a signature block. Save each one as a text shortcut, give it a spoken name, and say "insert" and the name in the middle of a dictation. Blanks written in braces, such as {hours}, go in as ___ and can be filled by saying the value after the shortcut. Legal Edition ships with a motion caption, a notice of appearance and a billing entry shortcut to start from.
Getting the text where it belongs
VoicePrivate pastes into the text field that has your cursor: Word, Outlook, a court e-filing form open in the browser, or the notes and documents in Clio, MyCase or another case management system. It does not connect to those accounts. It types where you are.
Confidentiality, in plain terms
Family files hold financial statements, custody evaluations and sometimes abuse allegations. With VoicePrivate, recognition runs on your own computer: the audio is not sent to a server and there is no cloud transmission of what you dictate. Where the finished documents are stored and who sees them is still your firm's process.
For the bigger picture, see best dictation software for lawyers in 2026 and dictation services vs software. If you dictate on a handheld recorder between hearings, digital dictation equipment for lawyers covers which files VoicePrivate can transcribe. Related practice pages: estate planning and probate and personal injury, or all practice areas.
Family law dictation: questions
Can I dictate a parenting plan with VoicePrivate?
Yes. Open the plan in Word or your drafting tool, press the hotkey, dictate the schedule and press the hotkey again. The text is pasted at your cursor. Check every date and time against the agreed schedule.
Does it know terms like QDRO and guardian ad litem?
Yes. The Legal Edition dictionary includes QDRO, guardian ad litem, pendente lite, ex parte, equitable distribution and other family law terms, and corrects common near misses of them.
Can I dictate financial figures?
Yes, but check every number against the source document. Account numbers and support amounts are where a single wrong digit matters most.
Does VoicePrivate work with Clio or MyCase?
It pastes into the field your cursor is in, including Clio and MyCase in a browser. It does not sign in to or sync with those systems.
Is the audio sent anywhere?
No. Speech is recognized on your own computer and the audio is not sent to a server for transcription.
VoicePrivate Legal Edition is $24.99 a month or $247 a year for Mac or Windows, with a 30-day money-back guarantee on individual plans.