Your workspace · 4 min read
Use Chain of Custody
Enable custody when creating a case, inspect logged events, and export the available trail.
Enable custody for a new case
Chain of Custody records supported case activity in an ordered audit trail. Its availability depends on your plan, and activation can have a displayed credit cost. Choose it before beginning the case work you need to record.
The available case UI enables custody from the creation form. Edit Case Details does not provide a later activation switch. A disabled Custody tab can mean that the feature is outside your plan or that it was not enabled for this case.
- Select New case file on Dashboard and enter the case details.
- Select Enable Chain of Custody when the option is available. Review the cost shown in the creation form.
- Select Create case file and wait for the activation result.
- Confirm that the case header shows Custody on and that the Custody tab is available. If activation fails, the case may still have been created without custody.
Read the case trail
- Open the case workspace and select Custody.
- Read the chain summary, then inspect the entry table for the activity you need.
- Expand an entry to review the available detail and hashes. Risk-decision entries can include the investigator’s identity decision, relevance decision, and rationale.
- Select Export to download the available custody records as JSON. For a case PDF, include Chain of Custody in the report options when it is offered.
After saving an investigator decision on a risk assessment, return to the case’s Custody tab and inspect the decision entry. Check that the recorded rationale matches the decision you intended to save.
Interpret the verification message
Chain intact means that the displayed audit entries link together in sequence. A broken-chain message identifies a problem with those links. This check does not independently establish the truth of a finding, the completeness of every possible event, or legal admissibility.
If the trail is empty, Nexus shows No custody entries yet. If a chain-break message appears, preserve the export and report the problem through support before relying on the trail. Do not describe an incomplete or broken trail as verified.
Custody is scoped to its case. Enabling it does not retroactively prove earlier work, and successful case creation alone does not confirm successful custody activation. Use the visible status and recorded entries when checking what is available.