Divorced parents of minor children, here’s a great idea you should implement: conduct a yearly audit to ensure that everything is covered when it comes to the custody and parent-time schedule, child support issues, and more. Specifically,
Make sure that the minor children’s doctors and dentists and other health care providers have complete and accurate contact information for both parents. The same goes for ensuring that the children’s schools have up to date and complete parent contact information.
Some parents will try to remove the other parent from child healthcare provider and/or school records, so that they can falsely paint the other parent as uninterested in and disengaged from their children’s health care. Some parents try to remove parent contact information so that they can make unilateral choices for the children’s healthcare without the other parent’s knowledge and consent.
Making sure your contact information is known and complete and accurate is good to confirm when it comes to the children’s church records, athletic teams records, club records, etc. is also not just a good idea, it’s crucial.
If there are any e-mailing lists, text message groups, or other means of notifying parents of the children’s events and activities and deadlines, make sure you are on them and that you are being sent notifications of everything. Even if you think or know you were on such lists before, check to ensure that your ex hasn’t maliciously removed you from any of them, check to ensure you were not inadvertently removed from them.
Don’t just e-mail or text the people who take care of, educate, and interact with your children. It’s important to have a written record, of course, but make sure you meet with them in person, so that they know who you are too. Make sure you do so at least once a year.
Make sure your children have their yearly checkups with the pediatrician (and any other regular health care providers, if your children are under their care too) are scheduled and attended. Make sure the children’s bi-annual dental checkups are scheduled and kept.
Makre sure that if your children are enrolled in any athletic or club activities that you know of how much dues and fees are and when payment is due, so that you can notify the other parent and so that you ensure the children pay their fees on time and don’t miss out on staying on the team/in the club.
If you and your ex are using a shared calendar to keep track of the children’s activities, such as health care appointments, school and extracurricular events, athletic practice and game schedules, family gatherings, vacations, and the like, make sure the calendar is up to date with all of the children’s upcoming activities.
Make sure also that the calendar is working properly and hasn’t been disabled or sabotaged in any way to prevent you from accessing it, viewing it, and updating it. Some parents will try to manipulate the calendar to make it appear that the other parent doesn’t use it or keep it current. Some parents will try to manipulate the calendar to schedule over events and activities the other parent added to the calendar to prevent that parent and the children from enjoying those activities and events together or to claim that the parent failed to notify the other parent of certain activities and events.
Make sure that you have documentation of current insurance cost information and insurance cards or, if you are the parent who owns the insurance policies that cover the children’s health care, make sure you provide your ex with documentation of current insurance cost information and insurance cards, so that no one is paying more or less than is needed for insurance coverage and so that such expenses aren’t being duplicated.
Make sure that any costs incurred for the children that your ex is obligated to reimburse you for have been documented with a bill or invoice (to show you incurred the expense) and with a receipt (to show you paid the expense and how much you paid). You should not be doing this only once a year, but monthly.
If you pay child support, check your credit report to ensure your ex has no judgments against you that were obtained without your knowledge and to ensure your ex has not made or caused to be made any negative reports against your credit.
If three years have passed since the child support award was issued, or if you’re coming up on three years since the child support order was issued, you (and your ex) have the option of seeking a modification of the child support award amount as essentially a cost of living adjustment. (See Utah Code § 81-6-212(5); adjustment can be made if there is a 10% or greater difference between the obligor’s ordered support amount and the obligor’s support amount based upon current income amounts for one or both parents that would be required under the child support guidelines and the difference is not of a temporary nature.)
But even if it’s been less than three years since the child support award was issued, if you can prove that, then you can still move for an adjustment of child support. (See Utah Code § 81-6-212(3); if there has been a substantial change in circumstances, and “substantial change in circumstances” may (i) material changes in custody; (ii) material changes in the relative wealth or assets of the parties; (iii) material changes of 30% or more in the income of a parent; (iv) material changes in the employment potential and ability of a parent to earn; (v) material changes in the medical needs of the child; or (vi) material changes in the legal responsibilities of either parent for the support of others).
Make sure your will, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives are correct and reflect your current situation. If you have remarried, make sure you’ve made adjustments in your will, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives, if you want your new spouse to be included.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277