Divorce Checklist, Part V: Tasks Relating to the Children

Don’t miss the first four parts in this series of checklists helping you address the logistics, accounts, finances, online presence, and healthcare changes that may need to be completed upon separation and divorce. Today is our final installment of the divorce checklist, addressing the logistics surrounding the most important and precious part of your marriage: your children. This list is sparse because children are not logistics, and their needs throughout the divorce process cannot be quantified in a tidy checklist. The to-do items that you can address relating to your children are below.    

1. Update the children’s school records to provide contact information for you and your former spouse, emergency contacts, and school pick-ups/drop-offs.
2. Provide the school with your child custody order to keep in your child’s file.
3. Keep records of payment or receipt of child support and other support payments made to or received from your former spouse.
4. Make sure there is an agreement regarding who is claiming the children as dependents on their taxes (and sign any necessary IRS release forms, as may be required).
5. Keep records of your parenting time and your former spouse’s parenting time with the children; note any significant events, disputes, or changes to parenting time.

We hope these checklists are helpful as you move through separation and divorce. The logistics of separation and divorce can be complicated, but our divorce checklist series is here to provide some simplicity and order to the complex process. You may need legal counsel to guide you through the process and will be happy to jump in to help at any juncture in the separation and divorce process. Please reach out to our firm to schedule a consultation. 

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