Parental communication can be reviewed by the Court in child custody litigation. The review of parental communication often occurs because it assists the Court in understanding the level of conflict which is a best interest factor. NRS § 125C.0035 (4)(d), Although a lot of parents might not want to hear this, you need to tailor your communication to the audience. We’ve put together some tips to help ensure communicate is appropriate and will hopefully not have a negative impact on your custody matter.
- Focus on the child/ren. Leave out personal communication or attacks on the other parent.
- Co-parenting is not about telling the other parent how to do something. It is about sharing of information. Of course, if the Court directs you to provide certain information, then it would be appropriate. Another example is if the other parent asks for advice or how to handle something. Be respectful of the fact it takes a lot to ask for guidance.
- Type it and leave it. Don’t send it right away. Leave it sitting in the draft folder for 30 minutes and then come back to it and reread it before sending it. This might change the tone of the communication to focus on a better way to co-parent in writing in a positive way.
- Type it as if you’re sending it to the Judge, which should assist with making it more business like rather than emotional.
- Be short and to the point.
- If you receive a message that does not require a response, send a message back that simply says “received” or a thumbs up emoji. Not all communication requires a back-and-forth dialog.
- If you have a question, be direct, ask the question you want the answer to rather than going around it. However, the question should be related to the child/ren.
- Don’t name call, use derogatory statements or comments.
- Don’t use all capital letters or excessive exclamation points. Sending something in all capital letters can be taken as a sign of yelling.
- Do not sign the messages with any name other than the co-parent’s name (e.g. don’t sign it with your new spouse’s name).