Things to Track...and Why

You will always be in a better position to argue your case if you can show facts in support of your position. So here are some suggested tracking mechanisms and schedules to help you successfully resolve your case, prove your claim, and/or reduce conflict between you and your ex and/or your child's co-parent:

Child-related Expenditures. Despite how she makes it sound, she's not the only one who spends money on your children! So protect yourself from support hikes by keeping track of your child-related expenses like child support; work-related childcare; health, life, dental, and/or vision insurance; medical and prescription co-pays; uninsured medical, dental, and vision; extracurricular activities; gifts; entertainment; and vacations. And don't forget basic necessities like food, housing, clothing, furniture, transportation, school lunches and supplies, over-the-counter medicines and supplies, hiarcuts, etc.

Court Order Summations. Keep all of the issues in your Temporary Orders, Orders After Hearings, Judgments, etc., straight by creating a simple table of all of your court-ordered stipulations.

Explanation of Earnings. Create spreadsheets to explain complicated pay stubs, non-recurring overtime, bonuses, W-2 earnings, etc.

Holiday, Birthday and Special Day Schedule. Eliminate confusion by spelling out agreements for holidays, birthdays, and special days, and incorporating them into your annual parenting calendar.
Example: Child’s Birthday.
“Follow the approved Parenting Schedule. Parents will coordinate and accommodate one another to the extent practical when planning [Child's] birthday celebrations.
Parent A: Spends [Child's] actual birthday with her (all day or as [Child's] school schedule and Parent A’s work schedule permit).
Parent B: Celebrates [Child's] birthday on Parent B’s next regularly-scheduled parenting day.”

Income and Expense Reconciliations. Create a spreadsheet that compares your monthly bottom line to hers to compare and contrast your income-to-debt ratios, which is considered when setting support amounts.

Medical Reimbursement Form. For collection of the other parent’s share of your child’s uninsured medical care expenses (co-pays, prescriptions, etc.).

Parenting Plans. Develop a comprehensive plan for each parent to approve and use to help resolve your co-parenting issues.

Parenting Calendar. Eliminate confusion by transferring your parenting schedule onto an easy-to-follow, monthly calendar.

Percentage of Parenting Time. Is your parenting time at issue? Create a spreadsheet to calculate your precise annual percentage of parenting time (and hers, too!) to support your claimed time with your children. Dissomaster is based on your percentage of parenting time!

Reconciliations of Disputed Monetary Issues. Develop spreadsheets to explain disputed monetary issues.

Sequence of Events. Keep a detailed chronology of relevant events, which will help you establish a pattern of behavior to substantiate your claims. Remember to also record all of the "right" things that you're doing.

Table of Events and Documents. Develop an at-a-glance chronology of all of the documents and events relevant to your case. This will help you direct your attorney to the right piece of paper in your file, rather than have her do an expensive search.

Unresolved Issues List. Maintain an outline of all of your outstanding issues, which will help you to remember even the small things.

Contact Me. Let me know if you have questions about any of these (or other) tracking mechanisms, or if you'd like me to email you examples or templates. I'm glad to help! :)